Community

Shapla Center

Located in West Philadelphia’s University City neighborhood, the Shapla Center is a multi-use shared space, open to the diverse population that work and reside in the area. The center includes a making space for small-scale paper production, retail, a cafe, an incubation space, as well as other highly functional spaces designed to meet the community's needs.

For the purposes of this project, the community of focus is Bengali immigrants, thus the center is designed with the culture and customs of Bangladesh at the forefront.

The layered petals of the shapla (waterlily), Bangladesh's national flower, informed the overall design and shape throughout the center.