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Physics major builds a better brick

CUE THE CUBOID. Physics major Aiman Absar ’19 is on a quest to help Bangladesh cope with devastating floods with a cheaper, more sustainable brick.

A Reed physics major hopes to curb the devastation caused by floods in Bangladesh with a new twist on one of humanity’s most durable inventions—the humble brick.

Aiman Absar ’19 and two Bangladeshi friends have created a startup to manufacture a new kind of brick that is both cheap and environmentally sustainable.

With a population of 156 million people packed into an area the size of Iowa, Bangladesh has the highest population density in the world. During the monsoon season, heavy rain combined with poor drainage cause the rivers to flood their banks, inundating the countryside and destroying the makeshift houses of the impoverished rural population. When the waters subside, the farmers and fishermen begin the Sisyphean task of fashioning another abode from sheets of corrugated steel, mud, and thatch.

PAB Wins “People’s Choice” Award

The undeniable curb appeal of Reed’s new Performing Arts Building (PAB) earned it a thumbs-up in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Portland awards for design excellence. The PAB won first place in the People’s Choice Award in the Portland AIA’s annual competition, open to firms, members, and associate members throughout Oregon.

The public was invited to participate by voting on their favorite of the 68 entries displayed on presentation boards for more than two weeks in the rotunda of the Pioneer Place shopping mall in downtown Portland. More than a thousand people cast their votes by going to a website or scanning a QR code.

Designed by the Portland firm of Opsis Architecture, the building celebrated its grand opening in September, when thousands of students, faculty, staff, and visitors admired the its light, airy spaces and dramatic interior. Architecture possesses a vocabulary all its own. Rather than attempt to imitate, we will quote the description Opsis used for the atrium, where: