On our third visit to Dhaka in Bangladesh
we did it. We got inside one of the world’s greatest buildings. Our first effort was thwarted by
Bangladesh's caretaker military government of the time (they were not in the
mood to share so we simply circumnavigated the complex) and the second was
tangled by bureaucracy but this year it suddenly became easy. Bangladesh’s
General Assembly Building, known to the Bangladeshi as Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban,
is without doubt the masterpiece of architect Louis Kahn. We were deeply
grateful to be allowed to visit; we were even taken into the debating chamber
itself as the parliament was not in session.
Obviously our photos can’t do the place
justice but you can get some idea of two usually contradictory forces at work:
monumentality and grace. What you can't get is the extraordinary sensation of
walking corridors soaring up six storeys with great arcs cut into the walls
above you and light projecting sweeping shapes over the massive concrete
surfaces. Looking out of the building you see sheets of reflecting pools and
the beautifully sculpted brick buildings that house the ministerial offices,
strangely delicate next to the grand architectural gestures of the main
building.
It is impossible to comprehend how a bunch
of politicians agreed that this was the building they wanted or to understand
how Kahn managed to get this enormously complex work completed. Although it
took around twenty years with a bloody war in the middle of it, as an assertion
of a people it is unprecedented. We've heard that the building has functional
problems and there is certainly some maintenance needed, but the basic concrete
structure is magnificent and the Kahn designed detail splendid.
If you are anywhere near Dhaka in
Bangladesh go here first to download the form you need to fill out. From there
it's just a matter of showing up at the front gate and following your nose and
then the nose of your guide.
Images: top outside and the rest inside
Louis Kahn’s Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban. More pictures here.
