$2,500 Vernacular Home

The $2,500 Vernacular Home in Modonpur, Bangladesh, is a sustainable house built with local materials like mud, straw, bamboo, bricks, and tin sheets. Designed for a family of four, it responds to the hot, rainy climate with a raised veranda, steep roof, and cross-ventilated rooms. Clay pots in the tea house façade help cool the air. The home includes bedrooms, a kitchen, a toilet, cow sheds, a future kids’ room, a weaving space, and a street-facing tea shop. 'Liter bottles of light' brighten interiors, reflecting local, low-impact design.

Xinyun Li is an architect and a graduate of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She is currently practicing architectural design in New York. Architecture is a fascinating discipline that encourages intuitive exploration while embracing rational thought. It integrates technological advancements and reflects the evolution of its time. Architecture is a form of expression - an emotional expression. It quietly conveys the architect's sentiments toward the users and the site, while also expressing the building’s own relationship with its surroundings and the city.