Integrating Commerce, Work and Public Life: A Sustainable Mixed-Use High-Rise Development Framework for Gazipur, Bangladesh
Keywords:
Gazipur; mixed-use development; high-rise architecture; vertical urbanism; sustainable architecture; public life; climate-responsive design; land-use efficiency; urban heat; Bangladesh.Abstract
Rapid urbanization, industrial expansion and increasing pressure on land are transforming Gazipur into a complex metropolitan-industrial landscape. This paper develops the earlier Gazipur Sky Center thesis and a subsequent research-paper draft into a more explicit design-research framework for a mixed-use high-rise that integrates commerce, work and public life. The study uses qualitative, case-based architectural research: evidence from the supplied thesis, published urban and environmental literature, functional programming, climate-responsive design principles, mobility hierarchy, life-safety logic and conceptual performance indicators are translated into an integrated architectural model. The thesis site at Rongilabazar, Mulaid, Sreepur, Gazipur is approximately 242,842 ft² (about 5.5 acres) and was originally programmed as a shopping mall and corporate-office development. Published evidence cited in the supplied draft reports that urban area in Gazipur Sadar increased from 61.3 km² in 1999 to 118.3 km² in 2024, while water bodies and vegetation declined and summer land-surface temperature increased. The developed framework therefore treats density, ecological performance, public space, mobility and adaptability as interdependent rather than separate design problems. The proposed model uses an active public ground plane, retail podium, shared transition floors, flexible office tower, separated service and emergency circulation, shaded façades, green terraces, rainwater management and coordinated building systems. A mathematical assessment framework is provided for FAR, site coverage, green coverage, public-realm ratio, functional diversity, land-use efficiency, pedestrian accessibility, green-to-hardscape ratio and future energy-use intensity. Three conceptual heat maps demonstrate how thermal exposure, activity intensity and combined environmental-design priority can be used as decision-support layers. Because no georeferenced site thermal raster, pedestrian-count survey, traffic model or calibrated building simulation was supplied, the heat maps and design scores are explicitly conceptual rather than measured results. The paper concludes that sustainable vertical development in Gazipur should be judged by the coordination of land efficiency, public life, climate response, mobility, safety, resilience and long-term adaptability, not by building height alone.
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