#7. Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban

Extraordinary Architectural Design of Bangladesh Parliament Building – জাতীয় সংসদ ভবন বাংলাদেশ

Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban or National Parliament House, (Bengali: জাতীয় সংসদ ভবন ) is the house of the Parliament of Bangladesh, located at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka. Designed by architect Louis Kahn, the complex is one of the largest legislative complexes in the world, comprising 200 acres (800,000 m²).  In this documentary film, which is about the American architect Louis Kahn (1901-1974), by his son Nathaniel Kahn, detailing the architect’s extraordinary design of Bangladesh National Assembly Building.

Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh Architect: Louis Kahn Year: 1982

The National Assembly Building of Bangladesh, the Jaityo Sagnsad Bhaban is Louis Kahn’s greatest achievement. Light and water balanced. It’s just amazing. And, it lends to the best portions of the terrific documentary “My Architect.”

Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban or National Parliament House

(Bengali: জাতীয় সংসদ ভবনJatiyô Sôngsod Bhôbôn) is the house of the Parliament of Bangladesh, located at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka. Designed by architect Louis Kahn, the complex, which accommodates all Bangladesh’s seven parliaments, is one of the largest legislative complexes in the world, comprising 200 acres (800,000 m²)

The building was featured prominently in the 2003 film My Architect, detailing the career and familial legacy of its architect, Louis Kahn. Robert McCarter, author ofLouis I. Kahn, described the National Parliament of Bangladesh as one of the twentieth century’s most significant buildings.

History

Play of light inside the building

There have been nine national elections in Bangladesh. The first and second Parliaments used the Old Shangshad Bhaban, which currently serves as the Prime Minister’s Office.

Jatiyo Sangshad was designed by Louis Kahn. Initially, the government had appointed Bengali architect Muzharul Islam as the center’s architect, but Islam deferred, instead recommending Alvar Aalto or Le Corbusier. When those architects were unavailable, Islam enlisted his former teacher at Yale, Louis Kahn, as the architect. Kahn was subsequently brought to Dhaka by Islam, who assisted him throughout the design and construction of the project. Louis Kahn successfully developed a modernist design based on the aesthetic heritage of Bengal. Construction began in 1961 by President Ayub Khan, the then president of Pakistan as a permanent building for the federal legislature of both West Pakistan and East Pakistan and was completed after the country’s war of independence and several decades — on 28 January, 1982. The complex opened the following month on 15 February for the eighth (and last) session of the second parliament of Bangladesh and has since operated as the sole complex for the National Assembly.

http://www.complex.com/art-design/2011/02/the-top-50-architectural-achievements-of-the-modern-world/jatiyo-sangsad-bhaban