Mazharul Islam

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Site Plan, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, 1973

Mazharul Islam (Bengali: মাজহারুল ইসলাম) (25 December 1923 - ) is a pioneer of architecture in Bangladesh. Islam's style and influence dominated the architectural scene in Bangladesh in the 1960s and 70s, along with major US architects he brought to work in Dhaka. His work from the 1950s onwards not only signaled the advent of Modernism in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan), but almost overnight introduced a fresh culture of architecture in the then-contemporary scene hitherto populated by lesser examples of International style and those from the times of the British Raj. As a teacher, architect, activist and political activitist, Islam set the course of architectural practice in the country not only through his own many varied works but also through being instrumental in inviting the likes of Louis Kahn, Stanley Tigerman, and Paul Rudolf to work in Bangladesh. His major works include - Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban, Jahangirnagar University, Chittagong University, Central Public Library, Charukala Institute, the Azimpur Estate, Rangmati township, and a number of Polytechnic Institutes. He was awarded the Honorable Fellowship, American Institute of Architects at the National convention of the Institute at Dallas, Texas, U.S. in 1999. He was an honorable member of the Master Jury of the First Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Geneva, 1980.

1 Early life
2 Career
3 Notable works
4 Sources
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Early life

Completing his training as an engineer, Mazharul Islam, went to study architecture at University of Oregon. He earned his Master's Degree in architecture from Yale University under the supervision of Paul Rudolph, where Stanley Tigerman was a classmate.

[edit] Career

Mazharul Islam began his career by designing two buildings in the Shahbag area in 1955 - Dhaka University Library and Institute of Arts and Crafts.^{[citation needed]}

His most major work was borne when the Governor's Conference of Pakistan decided in 1959, under the leadership of President Ayub Khan, that Dhaka will be second capital of Pakistan.^{[citation needed]} It was decided to build a capital complex at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka, and Mazharul Islam brought Louis Kahn into the project. Islam worked closely with him from 1965 to Kahn's death in 1973.

Along with Kahn, he also brought Paul Rudolph and Stanley Tigerman to work in Bangladesh, and three of them came to be known as the American Trio. Apart from the Trio, it was Islam's monumental style that dominated Bangladesh architecture from 1950s onwards.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Notable works

Year	Project	Location	Comments
1953-54	The Institute of Arts and Crafts	Shahbag, Dhaka
	Public Library	Shahbag, Dhaka
	National Archives	Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka
1962	Housing for class IV Employees	Azimpur Estate, Dhaka
1963-64	Railway Rehabilitation Zone	Khilgaon, Dhaka	Plan for the project
1963-64	Rangamati Town	Rangamati, CHT	Plan for the project
1963-65	BCSIR Laboratory Buildings	Dhanmondi, Dhaka
1964	National Institute of Public Administration Building	Shahbag, Dhaka
1965-71	Head Quarters Building, Agricultural Development Corporation	Motijheel, Dhaka	14 storied
	5 polytechnic institutes	Rangpur, Bogra, Pabna, Sylhet and Barisal	In collaboration with Arch. Stanley Tigerman
	EFU Building (Jiban Bima Bhaban) Project	Motijheel, Dhaka	27 storied
	Road Research Laboratories	Dhaka, Bangladesh
1968-71	Chittagong University master plan and designs	Chittagong University, Chittagong	Designs for students' hostel, humanities building, science building, administrative building, readers' quarters, VC's quarters, professors' quarters, storage and godowns
	Housing for Ruppur Atomic Energy Complex	Savar, Dhaka
	Jahangirnagar University Master Plan and designs	Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka	Designs for students' hostel, readers quarters and class IV employees' quarters
1980-84	Jaipurhat Limestone and cement Project	Jaipurhat, Bangladesh	Master plan, housing for 200 officers, housing for 1700 employees, clinic and hospital, clinic and hospital, bazaar and mosque
1980-84	National Library	Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka
1987	Office Building for the World Bank	Dhaka, Bangladesh
1995	Garden City Project	Dhaka, Bangladesh	20 storied