The building and 200 acres of surrounding grounds were designed by noted architect Louis Kahn. At first glance the bare concrete walls and giant geometric shapes, along with the massive staircases leading to the main building, can cause it to appear quite imposing, but extended viewings reveal the beauty and impressiveness of the design. Some good images appear on Wikimedia.

Construction started in 1961 with the building intended to serve both East and West Pakistan. One liberation war and a couple of decades passed before the complex was completed in 1982 to house the government of the still relatively young country of Bangladesh.

The central part of the building is 47 metres tall and contains the main Parliament Chamber, while the surrounding 8 wings are 33 metres tall and include offices, meeting rooms, store rooms and all the other necessities of officialdom.

Surrounded by lush grounds, lakes and smaller buildings containing offices and residences for MPs, the whole area appears to be an oasis of calm in an otherwise very crowded and bustling city. However, despite being surrounded by a very low fence, and Wikipedia’s comment that the complex is open to visitors and ‘popular with joggers and skaters’, when I visited in early 2008 the grounds were utterly deserted. Tight security surrounding the military government means the whole area is off-limits to the estimated 20 million residents of Dhaka.

To the north, past the crescent lake lies the mausoleum of Ziaur Rahman, a revered President of Bangladesh who was assassinated in 1981.

Read more about architect Louis Kahn and former president Ziaur Rahman at Wikipedia.

Thanks to James.

Locations: Bangladesh / Categories: Buildings, Monuments

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Chittagong Ship Breaking Yard in Bangladesh is mostly in low-res, but we can see a couple of ships here which have been beached on the mud flats for dismantling. All the steel from the ships is recycled and I think these are lifeboats.

The workers here are mostly barefoot, have no safety gear and scrap the ships by hand. Greenpeace estimates that due to the potential for structural collapse on the ships, and the hazardous chemicals abound, one worker a day is likely to die. Edward Burtynsky’s photos show just how perilous it is.

There’s even more to see Alang, India, where workers can expect similarly awful conditions. Of note here’s a huge end piece of ship and an aircraft carrier waiting out at sea.

Further reading on Wikipedia and Shoback

Thanks: Nathan, John Kranick, dr_cy_coe, Glenn, Ken Przywara, russ

Locations: Bangladesh, India / Categories: Watercraft

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