History of 20th-century Architecture

H&T 1.2 AR10342 2019

Student Number: 189099693 Candidate Number: 08801

Essay word count: 528
Student Name: Jenna Bailey (excluding headings, citations and references)

Architect: Louis Kahn

Structure: Jatiya Sangsad Bhabhan
National Assembly Building of Bangladesh [1] [2]
Born in Estonia 1901, Kahn’s family emigrated to the US in 1906 to escape Soviet war and widespread poverty across Eastern Europe. Kahn graduated Figure 1: Louis Kahn
b. Pärnu, Estonia 1901; d. Manhatten, United States 1974
from Pennsylvania University in 1924, then alternated between work and travel before establishing his own firm in 1935, which held focus on public Image available at: https://www.onofficemagazine.com/people/item/2775-remembering-louis-kahn

housing and city planning. Kahn’s distinctive blend of modernism and brutalism emerged in the last 20 years of his life, while he worked as a university Figure 2: Jatiya Sangshad Bhabhan
Designed 1961, construction completed 1982
critic and professor. During these years, Kahn completed his most famous projects, including the Kimbell Art Museum, the Salk Institute and the National Image available at: http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/National_Assembly_in_Dacc.html/
cid_1251845377_3472849981_c6bceecf0c_b.html
Assembly Building of Dacca.

Context Figure 3: Jatiya Sangshad Complex Site Plan

Illustration by author, based on Kahns’s master plan scematics available in Louis I. Kahn Archive vol. 3,

The Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban (JSB) is the centrepiece of Bangladesh’s National Assembly complex, designed by 1987, pp. 17.

Kahn in 1961. Though initially intended to serve as Pakistan’s Eastern capital, in 1971 East Pakistan (Bangladesh) The JSB which seats the Bangladeshi parliament is placed centrally in the
complex, with an artificial lake surrounding it on three sides. The lake acts
gained independence, bestowing the JSB with a new purpose: to define and celebrate the new democracy. as a moat, isolating the JSB from its surroundings, relating the building to a
(Souza, 2010) PS
fortress especially considering Its dominating form.
However the concrete mass of the JSB is offset by smaller red-brick
The Bangladeshi government contracted Kahn to design their National Assembly, whose work represented a SH
NH
hostels for visiting dignitaries arranged in a v-pattern sit on the shore of
the lake. The red-brick reflects the topology of the region, its rough texture
divergence from the modernist architecture popular across much of the US and Europe. They believed Kahn contrasts the JSB’s smooth façades.
would bring a new style to Bangladeshi architecture.
[3] MH
Plan
A concentric plan of 110 foot cylindrical and cuboidal towers is arranged around an octagonal Assembly JSB
Artificial lake
Hostels
NH National assembly member’s hostels
MH Minister’s hostels
Chamber rising 45 feet above the surrounding buildings, highlighting its prominence within the building. Gardens/grass SH Secretaries hostels
PS Presidential Square
Kahn remarked that the idea for the design “came simply from the realization that assembly is of a transcendent
nature” (Diarna, 2014, citing Kahn). An assembly is a gathering of people for a common purpose, and thus the Presidential Entrance Assembly [4]
JSB is an assemblage of different buildings which together become a fully realised space. Presidential Lounge
Chamber
Figure 4: Red-brick hostels and JSB
and Conference Image available at: https://www.yellowtrace.com.au/circles-in-architecture/
The JSB is an excellent example of Kahn’s distinction between ‘servant’ and ‘served’ spaces, possibly his greatest Rooms
input to architectural theory (smow Designermöbel, 2013). Kahn utilises the negative space between the Dining
Figure 5: Servant and Served Spaces in the JSB
Illustration by author
inhabited (served) spaces within the towers to provide ‘servant’ spaces that support the function of the building. Halls
Served spaces are ‘lived-in’ parts of a building, the most used
spaces which in the case of the JSB are the Assembly Chamber,
Form mosque, function rooms and offices. Servant spaces, on the
other hand, support the rest of the building, most commmonly as
stairways, lift shafts and corridors, though they also encapsulate
The external form creatively provides interior ventilation and shade with voids and recessed facades between storage and access to plumbing, air ducts and electrics.
towers, which also gives depth to the monolithic forms. Kahn described his unique design as a “many-faceted (Slunecko, 2018)
precious stone, constructed in concrete and marble” (Curtis, 2013, citing Kahn), a fitting statement for a building Kahn has clearly used this concept to dictate the JSB's plan.
Servant spaces are created by the gaps between served spaces,
Offices Walkway
constructed as a public display of wealth. which are the building blocks of the structure. The servant spaces
are also the primary means of providing natural lighting and
Despite the concrete blocks appearing solid, the walls are hollow shells containing cuboidal office blocks. The Mosque Entrance
(ablution space)
ventilation to the building.
Primary served
geometric openings punched through the facades allude to this by offering snapshot views of the shadowed spaces
Interestingly, Kahn continues to differentiate the served spaces,
Mosque/Prayer Room Secondary served by giving the primary spaces (red) more complex, circular-
spaces inside. (Gast, 2001) spaces based plans whereas the secondary spaces (blue) have simpler,
[5] Servant spaces rectangular floor plans.
Materiaity Light enters through Glazed slots in the
Figure 6: Roof Plan displaying light
voids between the ceiling bring light entering the JSB
With Le Corbusier setting precedence with concrete architecture in India during the 1950s, the intimidating Assembly Chamber into the walkways. Figure 7: Section displaying light
and walkway
concrete form serves as a reminder of Bangladesh’s brutal past under Pakistani ruling. (Choudhury, 2015) filtering into the JSB
Open top "light Illustrations by author

Layers of concrete and marble constitute the JSB walls. Marble slabs at 5 foot (roughly eye-level) intervals cylinders" bring light
into the mosque
Kahn understood that the sun’s angle in
Bangladesh is generally fairly high, and
dictates scale on the façade, evoking a relationship between the building and observer. (Legault, 2013) The thus relying on vertical windows would be
marble accounts for the unskilled Bangladeshi workers and improper equipment by obscuring the seams ineffective lighting strategy for a scheme of this
size. As a result Kahn used skylights to bring
between concrete pours. light into the JSB from above.
Though Kahn planned skylights open to the
Lighting elements, this was quickly changed as the
monsoon rain would have caused irrevocable
Light spills into the
Kahn placed noteworthy detail in the JSB’s lighting. Despite large cut-outs in the building’s external shell, the Assembly Chamber
damage after just one summer. (Büttiker, 1993)
Instead, Kahn filled the roof with a grid of glass
majority of light enters from above, taking advantage of Bangladesh’s high sun to light down to the ground and through openings
between the umbrella
blocks, which diffused the light sufficiently to
obscure the gridded shadow pattern.
deliver light into the offices without glare. roof and walls
The mosque is the main exclusion to this, as
Slotted openings in the roof cast strips of light on the walls [Figure 12], creating elements of verticality contrasting Glass blocks cover the the columns are open to the elements so wind
and weather can be felt inside the room. The
the horizontal marble. Further light spills out from gaps above the offices, below the roof lets, illuminating the [6] voids to protect the
office walls from heavy columns open into the inside of the building
walkways and lighting the upper floors. A umbrella-shaped roof tops the octagonal assembly chamber, very monsoon rain. to bring light into the mosque at ground level.
Kahn intended for this to resonate with the
lightly touching each vertex. From below, a ring of light is visible, suggesting the roof hovers over the assembly, nature of Muslims prayers, which “skim the
ground” towards Mecca. (Soloman, 2013)
accentuating the grandness of the main space.
The mosque presents an alternative strategy. Highly diffused light emanates almost from ground level via circular
openings into “light cylinders” at each corner of the room [Figure 10]. (Büttiker, 1993) Connection to the elements
through the open-roofed cylinders increases the spiritual experience. [7]

[9] [11] [13]

[8] [10] [12]
Figure 8: Glass block roof above office void Figure 10: Mosque lighting detail, cuts into light cylinders Figure 12: Glazing slots in walkway roof casting shadows
Büttiker, 1993. pg.177 Available at: https://www.akdn.org/gallery/1989-aga-khan-award-architecture-recipients Büttiker, 1993. pg.174

Figure 9: Diagram detailing glass block skylights Figure 11: Diagram detailing light cylinders Figure 13: Diagram detailing slotted skylights
Büttiker, 1993. pg.177. Shading by author Büttiker, 1993. pg.179. Shading by author Büttiker, 1993. pg.175. Shading by author

References
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Büttiker, U., 1993. Sher-E-Bangla Nagar: National Capital of Bangladesh Assembly Hall
1962-83. In: Louis I. Kahn: Light and Space. Berlin: Birkhäuser, pp. 168-185.
Choudhury, B. I., 2015. The Genesis of Jatio Sangsad Bhaban at Sher-E-Bangla Nagar
Dhaka, Sydney: s.n.
Curtis, W. J., 2013. Modern Architecture and the Excavation of the Past: Louis Kahn and
the Indian Sub-Cntinent. In: Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture. Weil am Rhein:
Vitra Design Museum, pp. 235-252.
Diarna, 2014. Louis I. Kahn: National Assembly at Dhaka, Bangladesh [Online]. Available
at: http://archive.diarna.org/site/detail/public/181/ [Accessed 12 May 2019].
Gast, K.-P., 2001. National Assembly Complex of Bangladesh Dhaka, Bangladesh
1962—1983. In: Louis I. Kahn Complete Works. Munich: DVA, pp. 142-149.
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Stott, R., 2019. Spotlight: Louis Kahn [Online]. Available at: https://www.archdaily. Figure 14: South elevation, facing Mosque Figure 15: North elevation, facing the
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Available at: http://www.alluringworld.com/national-parliament-house/
Presidential Entrance
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