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Back to Dhaka

High-minded and optimistic types might assume that architecture can influence behaviour. And perhaps it can. But if the situation in Dhaka is anything to go by, then no matter how grand the building, it cannot dissuade corrupt humans in powerful positions from behaving corruptly. We are talking here about the Parliament in Bangladesh. For some 30 years now this handsome edifice has embellished the capital city with its grandeur, impressing and inspiring the citizens who look upon it whilst those inhabiting it, appointed to function as representatives of the people, continue their untoward manner of operations without the least regard for what the building exudes.

Louis Kahn's masterpiece three decades later

text and images VEERLE DEVOS (except where mentioned otherwise)

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Military Police at the National Parliament House,Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka,Bangladesh

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DAMN° magazine # 34 BANGLADESH

Thanks to the great Estonian-American architect Louis Kahn, Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest coun-tries, has one of the finest national parliament buildings ever built. What kind of activity can you expect of the parliament in such a building, in a country where over 40% of the population struggles to survive and where democracy is sclerosed? Not earth-shatteringly much, it seems.

Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban, as the building complex in Ben-gali is called, was Kahn's last project during the decade before his death. It was the Government of Pakistan that ordered its construction, to house the federal power of what was then still West and East Pakistan. In 1971

Bangladesh became independent, but due to the sub-sequent Liberation War the building wasn't completed until 1982, eight years after Kahn’s death. In 1989 Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban received the Aga Khan Award for Ar-chitecture.

High hopesAs an architect, Kahn felt inspired by classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. Thus, Kahn's style tends to the monumental and monolithic. In the Bengali capi-tal Dhaka, on a 900-acre site, he built a robust fortress-like building in concrete, surrounded by parkland and a manmade lake that makes the building appear to float on water. The parliament building is extraordinarily spa-cious for a country of 161 million people where space has become precious. The lake keeps the building cool but also reflects watery Bangladesh - the Bengali’s live on a flood plain between three rivers: Ganges, Brahmapu-tra and Meghna. This makes the country very fertile, but also very prone to both flooding and droughts. Natural disasters such as floods, tropical cyclones and tornadoes, affect the country almost every year. Especially the many landless, who in this overpopulated country cannot live anywhere other than on the flood plains, and are there-fore often the victims. In the overcrowded, honking, pol-

Inside the building, Kahn uses different geometric shapes: windows in the form of circles and triangles, corridors, lifts, stairs, light courts and circular areas that are all horizontally and vertically interlinked.

Facing page:The parabolic shell roof of the Parliament Chamber, which can house up to 354 members. The space is lit from above by an octagonal opening with an umbrella-like ceiling. As the sun moves across the sky during the day, the light shifts and changes. Kahn was a master in designing with light.

luted, congested, and densely inhabited capital of Dha-ka, the Parliament building rises up like a fata morgana of peacefulness and quiet.

It’s usually difficult to approach the building closely. Since Bangladesh fell prey to terrorist attacks a couple of years ago, armed guards prevent Bengalis from look-ing at this rare strip of open space in their capital, along with the few curious tourists who make it all the way to Bangladesh and who want to take pictures of the world famous Parliament building from too close-by. The ones who actually manage to visit not only the gardens but also the building itself, have usually had to bribe a cou-ple of employees. "That is the scourge of Bangladesh", says one functionary, "virtually all politicians and officials are corrupt. With money you can get everything done. This mentality destroys our country.” Miraculously, we pay nothing, and we even smuggle our cameras inside. We take pictures when our official escort is purposely not watching. He does this with good reason: “People feel that is has been enough. We all adore the building that professor Kahn has given us, but we are really fed-up with what actually happens in this building: corrupt politicians are destroying our country. It’s about time the world knows”, he says.

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Indigenous technologies were employed to build the various parts of the complex, from the assembly hall to the mosque. Kahn used red brick produced by local craftsmen. The concrete walls are inlaid with bands of white marble. That a unique design of such magnitude was realised in Bangladesh solely with local materials, skills and technology, is in itself no mean achievement.

Low-impactPoliticians only show-up when there’s a parliamentary session, and today there’s obviously none. Also, due to the traffic jams during rush hours, people avoid driving 10 km to the city centre for a meeting. We find a few stal-wart characters within the enormous assembly building: the librarian, a leading official, postmen, a guard from the Air Force, and several others with unnamed jobs. They all love the building, and give us a genuine Bengali smile when we ask about political activities in their huge and peaceful office. All of them are good people caught in a country that doesn’t work properly.

We visit the Parliament building with Shahnawaz Bappy, a young architect based in Dhaka, who on the 27th of August will give a lecture at the Backstage Architecture book launch in Venice. On that occasion, Shahnawaz will talk about his mission to create a better society through architecture, amidst a thoroughly corrupt Bengali politi-cal system. “Kahn was a visionary who knew very well what he was doing: he designed Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban for an ideal society. It’s not a coincidence that he built a huge esplanade for the people (currently a no-go zone for the public), and a discreet side entrance corridor for the Members of Parliament – his message is clear: the MPs have to serve the people, not the other way around. Also, the building reflects dignity and righteousness, and thus challenges MPs to a government that is enlightened, peaceful, good and wise." But does it really have an im-pact on them?

Public anxietyQuite a relevant question, now that the country is again going through its umpteenth crisis: the recent period has been very tumultuous - an opposition leader was kid-napped, homemade bombs were exploded in the streets of Dhaka, there were violent strikes and demonstrations every day, and the army is ready to take over the lot – the Bengalis are scared and have started to prepare for mar-tial law. “We are anxious about our security”, Shahnawaz

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The Post Office, with employee Abdul Jalil who has been working here for 27 years.

Bappy states. “The opposition will organise more pro-tests, and the government will send more police in to stop them. This will completely paralyse public life. It happened before; the last time was in 2006, when the army declared a state of emergency that remained un-til the 2008 elections. If the army takes a governmental position, foreign countries will stop their help, which is a disaster in a poor country entirely dependent on that help, like ours. We hope they’ll find another solution than strikes and violence.”

When asked whether the building might inspire the politicians to better governance and probity, Nawas laughs scornfully. “In Bangladesh there is no democ-racy – there’s an alternation of power between the two great political families, each led by a woman. The cur-rent Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, from the centre-left Bangladesh Awami League and her archrival, Khaleda Zia, from the centre-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party, have alternated power since 1990. In 2014 we’ll have elections, but the Bengali people don’t expect anything. Nothing but misery, in any case.” Some say Bangladesh has demo-sclerosis: a democracy that is sclerosed; the veins and brain of democracy are silted-up. The idea of a committed democracy operating in this splendid, robust piece of architecture seems to be nothing more than a mirage.

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Grim prospects"We love the building itself but not what is happening inside”, confirm the residents who live in the surrounds. They tend their shops in the boulevards near the site. Previously they were allowed on the site to sell tea and food, but now they are banned because of the terrorist threat. Mahbub Morshed, a journalist from The Daily Star newspaper, who’s having his morning coffee in one of the shops, told us: “The fact that the Bengali peo-ple love the Parliament building is not only about the beauty of it, it also has to do with the fact that the build-ing and its gardens are so very spacious. The compound used to be open to all, and people came here to rest, eat peanuts and drink tea. Every night, couples and friends came together. It was one of the very few open spaces in Dhaka. Now the public must be satisfied with the wide footpath overlooking the Parliament. But yes, the beau-ty of the building also inspires people. Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban is a permanent reference of quality and an inspi-

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Apart from the Parliament building, the Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban complex also includes hostels, dining halls, a hospital, meeting rooms, offices, eating places and a mosque.

Lift operator Ali Hussain has beenworking at the Parliament for 32years: "Professor Kahn thoughtof the well-being of the employees when he was designing the building. Our national parliament is an oasis of peace and harmony. I very much enjoy working here."

ration for our architects. Well, that is in theory, because in practice our architects only come up with ugly con-crete and glass structures, inspired by Dubai. We have very few landmark buildings. And the new ones are not as prominent as the Parliament. So we usually don’t ask who built it. In a developing country like Bangladesh, architecture is not a priority. Architects are not impor-tant in Bengali society, and there are very few. Not many universities even have architecture in their curriculum. 250 graduating architects a year in a population of this size is not enough."

Kahn died of a heart attack in a men's restroom in New York, in 1974. He had just returned from a work trip to Bangladesh. In 2004 Kahn's son, Nathaniel Kahn, made a film about his father's life: 'My Architect'. Part of it plays in Bangladesh. Louis Kahn's building in Dhaka re-mains a lasting challenge for politicians to make democ-racy more than an evaporating illusion.#

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