Architecture of centers of Governance
JATIYA SANGSAD BHABAN, DHAKA
Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, Dhaka
Image source: Getty images
The Parliament Building of Bangladesh, Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, is an interesting architectural case of the Office of State as it was conceptualized in the larger background of two different cultural milieu. It was an attempt to pacify the Bengali population from East Pakistan who felt deprived by the regime in West Pakistan. It also presents how architecture helps in presenting an identity to people. Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban borrows from Bengali culture, local landscape and combines it with modernism. Initially, its construction started as the second capital of the then West Pakistan. It finally became the capital of the present Bangladesh.
This parliament building was designed by Muzharul Islam and Louis Kahn, teacher of Muzharul Islam. Muzharul Islam is the lead figure of regional modernism in South Asia and a pioneer of modern architecture in Bangladesh. Construction of the Parliament building started in 1962. However, the construction was halted mid-way (in 1971) due to the Bangladesh liberation war. It was completed 11 years later as the parliament for the new capital of free Bangladesh, Dhaka. It became a symbol of democracy and pride for the people of Bangladesh
Architecture
Known as the world’s largest Parliament building, Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban is built on a 1,000-acre site. It is a seven-story octagonal Parliament building. Walls, 135 feet high, surround it.
The building mass rises magnificently from a geometrically shaped water body.
There are two adjoining plazas: the South Plaza for public entrance and the marble-clad North Plaza also called the Presidential Plaza for ceremonial entrance.
It has at its center a 16 sided assembly with a capacity of 500 seats at the center. There is an 85 feet high ambulatory surrounding this. In the next layer, there are eight free-standing buildings surrounding the ambulatory.
The architectural imagination in the ambulatory beautifully combines layered space and filtered light. Huge geometric windows placed on the edge of all buildings allow the play of light, not only as an illuminating element, but also as the creator of space.
The exterior of the building exhibits at an interval of 5 feet horizontal marble bands within which there are triangular, rectangular, circular, and semi-circular cutouts.
An interesting skew off the axis is seen in the four towering cylindrical forms at the prayer hall at the Southern entrance to align with the direction of Makkah. The geographic features of Bangladesh are seen in the geometrically shaped water body from which the Parliament Building rises. The artificial lake on the three sides which acts as a natural insulator and cooling system. The water creates interesting spatial conditions and adds to the Bengali culture and value along with the aesthetic, portraying the riverine beauty of Bangladesh.
Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban has diverse elements of interest. Being the world's largest parliament building, there is a confluence of regional, cultural features from deltic Bangladesh and modernist aesthetics and the solemnity of Greco-Roman aesthetics. It is a case of how a sense of identity is restored to people through architectural imagination.
Article by : Pun: chat Team
Dr. Vandana Talegaonkar, Ar. Nisha Parikh
Images by: Ar. Anushka Juneja