The parliament building as seen from the Parliament Members Club

EVENTS

A taste of heritage and the excellence of architecture

The Constituent Assembly of Bangladesh and the first Parliament held their sittings in the building that now houses the Prime Minister's Office and which is often referred as the old Shangshad Bhaban (old Parliament House). The second Parliament also held most of its sittings in that building, the last sitting being on 10 July 1981. It was during the tenure of the second Parliament that the present Parliament building, or Shangshad Bhaban, located at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, became functional. Its eighth, and incidentally the last session, commenced on 15 February 1982 in the new building.

The design of the Parliament Building, made by the famous architect Professor Louis I. Kahn, was evolved from the basic human requirement of protection from the glare and fury of nature. This has been achieved through the overall arrangement of the complex in different groups of buildings in which normal external lines are deeply recessed by porticoes with huge geometric openings on its outer facade, forming the visual characteristics of the building. Thus conventional methods of protecting external windows have been effectively substituted, resulting in the compositional effect of these huge openings, befitting the scale of the building. The use of exposed concrete walls to contrast the surrounding buildings with exposed brick exteriors, merges with the land and its culture. The lake on three sides of the main building, extending up to the Members hostel not only creates visual relief for the beholder but also echoes the riverine beauty of Bangladesh. The entire complex has a floor area of 8,23,000 sq. ft. in the main building, 2,23,000 sq. ft. in the South Plaza and 65,000 sq. ft. in the Presidential Plaza.