Staff Reporter :
Architect Louis I Kahn’s main design of National Parliament complex and its adjoining area has been brought home from USA on Thursday.
“The main design formulated by Louis I Kahn reached at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Thursday from Architectural Archive of Pennsylvania University, USA,” AYM Golam Kibria, additional secretary, law, justice and parliamentary affairs told journalists yesterday.
He added as they have obtained the main design, it will be handed over to Speaker of the National Parliament.
Architect Louis I Kahn designed the Bangladesh Parliament complex, one of the largest legislative complexes in the world, comprising of 215 acres of land.
According to media reports, the Housing and Public Works Ministry has recently proposed removal of eight graves of renowned personalities, including late President Ziaur Rahman’s one, from the parliament area as those were not in the original design of American architect Louis I Kahn who designed Bangladesh’s National Parliament complex.
Besides, recently, Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain said necessary steps would be taken for smooth maintenance and coordination of all establishments located on the parliament complex and its adjoining areas in the light of the main design of Louis I Kahn.
He also said graves were raised on the parliament building premises at different times at the directives of the governments. 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.
The construction of the present Parliament complex 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. Its inauguration took place on 28 January, 1982. Kahn’s key design philosophy optimizes the use of space while representing Bangladeshi heritage and culture. External lines are deeply recessed by porticoes with huge openings of regular geometric shapes on their exterior, shaping the building’s overall visual impact.
