Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban

The Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban is the parliament house of Bangladesh, in the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area of Dhaka. It was designed by the American architect Louis Kahn, and its huge walls of concrete are cut with giant triangles, circles and arches. The whole complex covers about 210 acres, which makes it one of the largest legislative complexes in the world.

The building began as a plan for the Pakistani parliament, long before Bangladesh was a country. Today it stands as a symbol of Bangladesh's democracy and as one of the most admired buildings of 20th-century architecture.

How it came to be

In 1959 Pakistan's leader Ayub Khan decided to build a legislative building in Dhaka, then part of East Pakistan. The architect Muzharul Islam suggested hiring a world-famous designer, and he finally brought in his old teacher Louis Kahn. Kahn drew a first design in 1960, land was bought in 1961, and building began in 1964. The 1971 war stopped the work, and it started again in 1974 without changing Kahn's design. Kahn died when it was about three-quarters done, and his colleague David Wisdom carried on. The complex was finished on 28 January 1982.

What makes it special

Kahn used raw concrete with bands of white marble, and he pierced the walls with huge geometric openings so that light and air could pass through. Parts of the building are surrounded by an artificial lake, so it seems to float. The complex is one of the largest of its kind in the world, and it appeared in the 2003 film My Architect, made by Kahn's son.

On the globe

The model shows the concrete building with big triangle, circle and arch openings and the lake around it. Look for the white marble bands.