A visit to a much-publicized architectural pavilion led Master of Architecture student Nuri Bhuiyan to intern with its designer in Bangladesh—and to an unexpected exhibition of Bhuiyan’s own work.
Bhuiyan and her sister visiting Marina Tabassum's Serpentine Pavilion in London (Photo: Nuri Bhuiyan)
The summer of 2025, on her first trip to Europe and just before beginning the Master of Architecture program at Weitzman, Nuri Bhuiyan stopped at the Serpentine Pavilion in London’s Kensington Gardens.
The pavilion, A Capsule in Time, was designed by acclaimed Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum and her Dhaka-based practice, Marina Tabassum Architects (MTA). Drawing in part on South Asian Shamiyana tents and awnings, its tinted, translucent surfaces filtered daylight through the timber-framed vault.
For Bhuiyan, who grew up regularly visiting family in Bangladesh, the project connected architecture to something more personal. “I was just in awe of it,” Bhuiyan says, “how she utilizes elemental aspects of light, form, and water to produce architecture, also bringing in cultural elements from Bangladesh and South Asia.”
Bhuiyan met a friend there for coffee, turning the pavilion into the setting for an ordinary afternoon as well as an architectural experience. Walking away, she thought, “I would love to work for her.”
Within a year, Bhuiyan did.
The opportunity began to take shape when Tabassum came to Weitzman as Marina Tabassum Architects (MTA) received the 2025 Kanter Tritsch Medal in Architecture. Bhuiyan spoke with the architect at the dinner following the Weitzman School awards ceremony, and then started a conversation with the firm over email. What followed was not an immediate offer but months of correspondence while Bhuiyan also pursued other possibilities.
By the end of the Spring 2026 semester, the persistence paid off. Bhuiyan joined MTA in Dhaka for a three-month summer internship this June.
At MTA, Bhuiyan moved among several projects, working on architectural models and drawings, as well as product concepts for the firm’s associated nonprofit, FACE. (Photo: Nuri Bhuiyan)
The attraction went beyond the firm’s international reputation for architecture that could be contemporary without losing its connection to place. Bhuiyan was excited for the opportunity to work one-on-one with Tabassum.
“There’s the identity element, that she’s Bangladeshi and a woman,” Bhuiyan says. “There are a lot of barriers to entry into architecture, and within Bangladeshi culture, there’s the additional hurdle for women to rise up and attain the status that she has.”
Bhuiyan was also drawn to Tabassum’s socially conscious practice and its engagement with Bangladesh’s architectural traditions and environmental conditions—chief among the factors that earned MTA the Kanter Tritsch Medal in Architecture.
At MTA, Bhuiyan moved among several projects, working on architectural models and drawings, as well as product concepts for the firm’s associated nonprofit, FACE. One was Khudi Bari, meaning “tiny house,” the modular bamboo-and-steel building system developed by MTA for those living on the “char” or temporary land formations subject to frequent flooding and displacement. The project received a 2025 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Tabassum’s second Aga Khan Award.
Bhuiyan worked on developing the Khudi Bari module at the scale of a community center, exploring how its affordability and relative ease of construction could be retained as the structure became larger and more public.
“I was there to learn,” Bhuiyan says. “They were really just trying to get me to immerse myself in the work.”
That immersion extended beyond the studio.
Bhuiyan was born in the United States and grew up outside New York City. Bhuiyan’s parents immigrated from Bangladesh, and family trips there took place every year or two while Bhuiyan was growing up. Living and working in Dhaka for an extended stretch, however, felt different.
Despite speaking the language and knowing the culture, Bhuiyan was also aware of arriving with the perspective of someone raised in the United States. Navigating a workplace and daily life brought moments of unfamiliarity alongside recognition.
“It was a wonderful feeling to have the motherland—a source of so much personal meaning to me—begin to tangibly connect to my work and career in design,” Bhuiyan says. “It was just a really awesome experience of connecting to my culture.”
“It feels like a dream come true,” Bhuiyan says, “but my experience this summer happened because of the way I identified what I want and then took the steps to make it happen.”
“It was a wonderful feeling to have the motherland—a source of so much personal meaning to me—begin to tangibly connect to my work and career in design,” says Bhuiyan of her summer in Bangladesh. (Photo: Farzana Alam)
Early in her stay, yet another opportunity came along. Bhuiyan visited an artist-run gallery in Dhaka and struck up a conversation with its curator, artist Wakilur Rahman. Bhuiyan shared examples of her previous work, and Rahman offered an open slot for a solo exhibition that fell on the final two weeks of her internship.
Entitled Form to Concept, the exhibition brought together architectural drawings and films, reflecting Bhuiyan’s background in art, architecture, and film—interests she began to explore during her time as an undergraduate at Harvard University. Without finished buildings or physical models readily available to exhibit, the drawings themselves became a way for her to explore design as a process rather than simply a path toward a completed object. The films brought another perspective to the work, whereby dynamic representation and storytelling treat spaces as evolving and alive.
“It was kind of looking at architecture as this artistic practice,” Bhuiyan says of the exhibition, which received coverage in several Bangladeshi media outlets including The Daily Star and Prothomalo.com.
She returned to campus this fall wanting to hold onto the momentum of the past year—and to make the experience known to other students who might imagine unexpected paths for themselves.
The 2026 Weitzman School Awards ceremony, honoring architect Steven Holl and the City of Boston, is scheduled for November 10.
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