L OUI SKAHN
Index 00. Introduction Methodology Vocabulary 01. The water 02. The street 00. Overview 03. Conclusions 04.References 05. Model 06. Figures
00. Introduction The building of the National assembly in Dhaka reflects until today a significant value with multiple extensions (architectural, social, political, historical). There are a lot of different ways for someone to read, understand and experience the particular building. For some, its monumental scale and appearance exhales a sentiment of spirituality. However, the building cannot and should not be perceived and evaluated as an “isolated island”, but in correlation with its surrounding context. The scale of the project, after all cannot be defined only by the building of the National Assembly itself, but as a complex of multiple functions. The organization of the site, the program of installation, the articulation of the different components with each other, make the complex to reflect as “a city within a city” in our perception. Under this perspective, the landscaping design, the relation of the different components with the building of National Assembly and the relation with the preexisting part of the city, play a major role in order to comprehend the project in its full extent. When someone observes the building from far away, indeed gets preoccupied by its outstanding appearance. There are, however, elements of the immediate environment of the building which amplify this impression with their scale, their texture (materiality) and their relation with the building; elements such as the green area in the South edge of the site, the imposing square in front of the Mosque and most importantly the artificial system of lakes, which is really difficult to overlook. By analyzing these elements, the tangible connections between the building and its surrounding contexts are revealed and the inseparable field of dynamic and continuous influence between them is exposed.
The building of National Assembly of Dhaka is an invaluable piece of architecture, but a part of its dynamic would have been lost if we could, somehow, overlook the elements of landscape around it. The presence of the water, the smaller- scale brick constructions around the building, the formation of the square, the bridge, the stairs, the green elements and the entrances, are all the “discrete” details (in comparison to the Assembly’s scale), which bring the building closer to the human scale; it is due to these details possible for an observer to comprehend and for a visitor to approach, this architectural piece of monumentality. To conclude, under the above perception, the objective of this research, will be to analyze the dynamic of the landscaping in the complex of the National assembly of Dhaka in relation with the Assemble building. The elements examined will be the “Garden” and the “Forest” located in the South part of the site, the “Square” situated in front of the Mosque, the “Lake system” in the west and east orientation of the building and the function of the “Street” in Kahn’s designing concept. The analysis of the form, materials, dimensions, and the integration of these elements in the total design of the complex, will help us decode the role of landscaping in Kahn’s architecture. As far as conclusions are concerned, it is interesting to not only detecting Kahn’s initial intentions when designing, but also discover how the particular elements behave (in cooperation or in contradiction with the building), and how they contribute to the visitor’s experience and perception when visiting the National Assembly Complex.
Methodology The examined elements of landscaping will be analyzed under an architectural scope, using photographs of the site (personal archives and literature sources), existing drawing and sketches of the architect and other researchers, as well as drawings and sketches, result of personal analysis.
Lake
North Garden
Useful vocabulary Kazi Khaleed Ashraf, in his article “Taking Place, Landscape in the Architecture of Louis Kahn”, referring to the National Assembly building, raises the question “How a body rises to the visible to make an event?” When deconstructing this question, a helpful vocabulary for understanding our further analysis occurs. To our perception, the meaning of each conceptual word has the following context:
Presidential Square
Lake
Street
BODY=the National Assembly Building. It is the main designing objective of the composition in the National Assembly complex. South Plaza
VISIBLE=the landscaping of the surrounding area. It is the natural and artificial intervention to the site when designing the National Assembly complex. EVENT=the symbolism/meaning of the different designing elements.
South Garden
It is the way the designing elements contribute to the perception of the visitor and pass the different meanings of the architectural creation across. Street
02.
The Water
Fig. 1,1: Approaching the water in Dhaka
It has been an argument that the surrounding landscape of the complex has an indispensable connection with the Building of the National Assembly. If we enlarge the same argument in a bigger scale, is there any (intentional or referential) connection between the Complex of the National Assembly and the city itself? To provide some answers, we cannot (and it is not useful) to detect, if Kahn’s influential decisions were or were not based on stimulations taken from the actuality of the city of Dhaka, as part of his psychoanalytic insight. On the contrary, it would be of particular interest to detect associations in the function of the complex and its actual surrounding environment (the city of Dhaka) in the way people perceive and experience the building as a part of their own extended and preexisting lifestyle. After all, if it is not possible to comprehend the building itself isolated from its landscape designing around it, how is it possible to comprehend the complex if not in association with its everyday context, the city and the population of Dhaka?
Is the landscape of the city relevant? No one can deny that the capital city, Dhaka, was built based on its water culture. Bangladesh is the largest delta in the world and as it is expected, it has been evolved as a land and has developed a Hydraulic civilization, because of the special relation of the city with the water. Water culture has played a powerful role shaping the history, the society and the economy of this capital, and of the country itself in a bigger scale. In the way city has been developed, “water bodies� (and by that we mean boats, floating structures, connecting structures between the land and the river), supposed to be the life of the city which should work as the line of communication, natural drainage and space of feed and recreation for the people of Dhaka. Although, transformations that have influence the urban landscape of the capital [ref.8] have taken place the last years (mainly due to rapid and uncontrolled urbanization), the rivers and the canals of the capital always have been a way for Bangladeshi people to acknowledge the urban space, to approach the land, to travel and feed.
Fig. 1,2
Fig. 1,3: The water in the topography of the site, original drawing by “LOUIS I. KAHN, complete work 1935-74” by Heinz Ronner, Sharad Jhavari [ref.5]
Fig. 1,4: The water is present in Kahn’s initial sckethes for the site, original drawing by “LOUIS I. KAHN, complete work 1935-74” by Heinz Ronner, Sharad Jhavari [ref.5]
The water in the National Assembly complex. A way to embrace the building? Kahn realized early the water culture of the deltaic city of Dhaka. As Kahn was flying into Dhaka on his first visit, he observed from the plane the deltaic character of the landscape. Also, he studied through his sketches, the boats coming and going into the canals. According to Nurur Rahman Khan, “when he was given a vast extent of agricultural land at the edge of town to design his master plan, this observation formed a basis for Kahn’s inspiration and became an inherent part of the design”. There is no way to know if and up to what extent Kahn was influenced by the natural “anatomy of the city” when designing his “own landscape”. The facts that we know is that the site he was given was a flooding area with evident mounds and flood basins, but his plan did not integrate water as a perception of the natural landscaping. The design of the site map is displayed by Kahn as an opportunity to re-invent waterscape traditions, to integrate present and future requirements into the new complex. Although in this case the architect has the complete power to control water (by designing the artificial system of lakes, the connections with the surrounding area and the entrances in and out the water), in contradiction with the natural concept where water acts on its own behalf. Water was a predominate element for the city. People were afraid of the water floods, but also were feed and travel through it. Therefore, to my mind, water in Kahn’s perspective does not have a monumental dimension to praise the building/ construction, but a fundamental role to integrate a new “Body” in an old “landscaping tradition” .For Kahn, raising the building/body through water was his personal attempt for the surrounding land to embrace the Assembly, as people where embracing the shore of the water to feed. Therefore, the assembly is a water body raising to the perception of the people, naturally as an image integrated into their locality.
Fig. 1,5: The water-concept as a river, around National Assembly building.
Fig. 1,6: The water-concept as a “fountain”, reflecting Taj mahal.
SECRETARIES’ HOSTELS (Croos-shape)
MINISTERS’ HOSTELS (Croos-shape)
HOSTELS OF ASSEMBLY’S MEMBERS (Rectangular- shape) HOSTELS OF ASSEMBLY’S MEMBERS ( Round-shape)
ASSEMBLY BUILDING
Drawing 1.1
Fig. 1,7
Fig. 1,8
Fig. 1,9
Fig. 3.7-3,10: The different typologies of buildings’ foundations in National Assembly Complex.
Fig. 1,10
The “water bodies” It is really interesting to pay attention to the details of Kahn’s design, and observe the different ways the buildings of the complex are “coming in contact” with the water. Apparently, there is a different foundation system for different types of buildings, which gives them a different character in the general system of the Assembly complex. As we can also detect in the master plan of the Assemble complex, there are different typologies of buildings around the Assembly Building. The hostels for the assembly members, the secretaries’ hostels and the Ministers’ hostels are located in the East, West and South West orientation of the Assembly complex, respectively. Their floor plans and shapes vary, as well. As it is obvious, the square-shape hostels and the crosse- shape hostels have a brick foundation base in rectangular shape around them. These foundations are raising less than one meter from the water surface and although it is possible to come close to the water, when standing on the edge of them, definitely they create a limit between the end of the construction and the water. In that way, the brick foundation signs the original shape of the hostels in bigger squares, as it is evident in the master plan. The space created, is the outdoor extension of the hostels and it is designed and used as such. The green element on them offer shadow to the occupants and adequate external space to enjoy the scenery. As a result, the edges of the foundations form the waterfront; a distinctive line between the construction and the water surface.
from the surface of the water? Is it possible that the small-scale round hostels raise from the water out of consistency to the round raising concrete towers of the Assembly building? This was a metaphorical connotation as far as the form of the buildings are concerned. The bottom line of this observations is easier to be resumed from the East-West section drawing in the Assembly complex. As it is evident, the hostels are part of the land around them. Therefore, the extended bases under them create an intermediate space between them and the water, a space of distinction between the land part and the water part. On, the other hand, the Assembly building raises from the water, in this section, without an immediate connection with the land. It stands, in the middle of the system of the lakes, while only the discrete brick bridge on the South and the ramp on the North, make accessible the two squares. In that way, the Assembly building itself is a “water body” inside the river which restores the flow of communication between the two shores.
For some reason, this foundations form a bases only to the cross and square-shape hostels while the round ones, seem to “pop up” directly from the water. There is not an evident reason for this distinction, at least not based in the accommodated functions. The round- shape hostels accommodate public and private spaces as the rest of the hostels. The building of the National Assembly itself, also raises from the water surface without reveling its foundations. Is it possible that the architect has chosen to design a base for the square-space buildings and not for the round ones since they reveal themselves directly
Drawing 1,2:The building itself, as a water body, restores the communication line between the shores of the river.
Drawing 1.3
Fig. 1,11
Fig. 1,13
Fig. 1,14
Fig. 1,12
Fig. 1,15
Fig. 1.12-1,16: The different ways to approach water in National Assembly Complex. Fig. 1,16
The materials, amplify the above impressions. The redness of the brick is integrated in the natural scenery of the land, among the green trees. Brick material is not only used to the hostels, which “articulate the waterfront”, but also to the constructive elements connecting the “water body” with the land (red< color of the soil< land elements). On the other hand, the marble stripes of the Assembly building are reflected on the “river’s” surface and amplify the impression that the concrete towels begin within the water (the grey and white tone of the assembly reflecting the sun, correspond to the transparent tones of the water and the sky<water elements).
Sketch 1.1: The construction
The ways to approach the water So far, we have analyze how the different building typologies “approach” the water. We should also examine the ways that the landscape invite people to approach water. Towards South orientation, the entrance to the building is executed through the bridge in two different levels. On the lower level, on the right side of the square a marble stair case leads to an outdoors setting which invites people to approach water. The brick extended steps function as a deck in multiple levels, declining toward the water level, where eventually people can reach the water level. On the facing façade of the Assembly at this site, two small balconies built from brick lead through a few steps to the water level. This is the two only point of the Assembly building where brick is used and which they offer access to the water level. Is it possible this to be an intention by the architect in order gondolas to strap on at this point?
Sketch 1.2: The reflection
Sketch 1.3: The materiality
Last but not least, on the brick decks, there are outdoor spaces amphitheatrically designed, in order to be possible for the quests of the hostels to sit near by the water, although in a higher level.
Sketch 1.4: The waterfront
02.
The Street
The street is an integral part of “the” city. It is the place where the public and the private space of the city interact with each other, as a part of people circulate and gather in the street level, while others “expose their lifestyle” upon their windows and balconies in the building level. It is the place where the “face” of the city becomes visible through the semi-transparent facades of the buildings, it is the “threshold” between the urban and the residential space. The street has its own substance and characteristics, such as “occupants”, width, height, light and design, as well as “stable” (f.i urban equipment) and “flexible” (f.i. occupants’ currents) elements. Especially in the case of Dhaka, it is the void, narrow, lighted part, which highlights the lifestyle of the city with its density of people and the contradictive qualities, noises and colors.
Fig. 4.1: The street in Dhaka
“The absence of formality in the street is a way of life for people in Bangladesh. The absence of formalities of piazzas, foyer, prayer halls, marks the differences of the places that are developed in this part of the world” (L. Kahn).Based on this testimony, we can assume another reason why the street of the City has an additional dynamic: in the absence of other public spaces, the street becomes the main “space of assembly”, a social condenser for people to meet. In that way, street, is a scenery, formed by the facades of the buildings, but the “actors”, are acting in a natural way, as an extension of their domestic lifestyle, “in absence of formality”, as Kahn mentions.
Fig. 2,1
Fig. 2,2 Fig. 2,3
Drawing 2.1: The skyline and the street in the city
Drawing 2.2: The skyline and the street in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;city within a cityâ&#x20AC;?
Fig. 2,4
The “street” in the building. A city within a city? The “street” in the building. A city within a city? “As we penetrate the ominous structure of the National Assembly and venture to step inside, we find out that the assembly is design as a city within a city” [ref.5]. This is a testimony referring to the complexity of navigating inside the Building of the National Assembly. The Building is not easy to “read”. The spaces are folding around the circulation routes in multiple levels and in the middle, the core of the Assembly hall is located. Kahn, although nurtured under the influences of the modernistic principles, was superfluous as far as the space of the “intermediate space” were concerned. Broader than corridors, and wider than circulation routes, these intermediate spaces have the appropriate dimensions to integrate the light into the spaces, while in a lot of cases there are secondary spaces integrated into them. The “intermediate spaces” belong to the interior of the building. Due to their role in space articulation, though, they start to become an essential tool for the visitor to get familiar with the building. It seems that in the same way the visitor discovers an unknown part of the city, by wondering in the streets, likewise he experiences the folding spaces in National assembly building: through the intermediate spaces, the “internal streets” of this small-scaled “city”.
The “intermediate spaces” have even more characteristics which resemble to the streets of a city. Light: They act like the void between the solid masses of buildings; they integrate the light into the building. Their semi-transparent ceiling controls the entrance of the light into the space. Facades: Their boundaries are the internal facades of the building. Apparently the building does not have only external facades, but also internal ones facing these intermediate spaces. These facades have openings and in that way they permit the light to enter the spaces behind them, while in some cases double facades are lightening the secondary corridors, before entering a room. The openings in the “interior facades” permit the interaction between the activities of people in the higher levels (building level) and in the intermediate spaces (ground level), in the same way the pedestrians interact with the people visible from facing –street facades. The “threshold”: As the urban street integrates filters between the public and the private space, the “interior routes” of the building form “thresholds” for the rooms. The double facades are dividing the “intermediate spaces” in more than one functions. Usually, one level remains intact for people to circulate. Another level is possible to function as a preliminary space for people to enter the rooms along the corridors in multiple levels, while another is designed as a sitting area, which integrates “urban equipment” such as greenery, artificial lighting and benches in order to organize the motion and stop of visitors. After all, in Kahn’s mind street was implying a public meeting. According to him, a meeting hall was a covered street. ”This is valid in terms of encounters and assemblies of people” (L. Kahn). Therefore, apart from the official meeting of politicians inside the Assembly Hall, an unofficial one is happening constantly when people interacting in the “intermediate spaces” of the Assembly building.
00.
Overview
1
2
2
1
Drawing 01: General plan
A CONNECTING “BRIDGE”
A “ FLOWING (water) SPACE”
03.
Conclusions...
At this point, our analysis is coming to an end. Through the four examined elements of landscaping, we tried to analysis Kahn’s initials thoughts about landscaping, but most importantly we tried to examine how the building co-works as a body with its surrounding context and how people perceive this image. The reason why we choose to analyze the particular elements is because all of them where initially designed to facilitate the “meeting”, the “assembly” of people. To our minds the surrounding context (political, social, economical) is playing a significant role to the making-how and the character of the building. In general, buildings have an impact to their immediate environment (natural, anthropogenic and technical), and vice versa buildings are defined up to a point by the time and the circumstances under which they are realized. The particular complex was not only born under a sensitive political period, but also in the aim to be a physical proof of change to the eyes of people. Architecture, and especially the one involved with the institutions of a nation and the public services, may impose a spacial manipulation on the way people organize, experience and form these institutions. According to Shamsul Waves (architect), the National Assembly of the City of Dhaka, “gave democracy to the people”. Is it possible for a building to inspire, form and inhale the meaning of democracy upon a nation? And above all, in what ways an architect can process and express the meaning of democracy through his architecture? Louis Kahn was hired to carry through the design of the National Assembly of Dhaka in a sensitive political moment were the former East Pakistan (as was the official title back then) was still struggling for Nationality. In Kahn’s mind (according to himself) the program had to be always a second priority, left to be defined after considering the nature of the building. This was a conceptual way for Kahn to declare that he needed first to think through the social context in which the building had to be integrated in, or thing through
the needs that the building supposed to fulfil, before being able to design a building based on the program ordered by his client. In the particular case, Kahn realized soon enough that his task to design the National Assembly of Dhaka, was a huge responsibility as the building would carry a significant meaning for the city and the Bangladeshi people and would inhale a timeless meaning as a landmark and as a symbol to peoples’ minds. It is rather a naive and simplified allegation to claim that the architect or his building, were responsible for “installing” democracy in the city of Dhaka. “Democracy” is a complicated and sometimes abstract notion and the way it is or it is not implemented upon a nation has political, social, constitutional and conscientious extensions, related to a nation and its history. Often this concept lies far away from the notion of architecture and its products, but in the particular case we cannot dismiss two facts: Firstly, that Kahn had to take under consideration the nature of his building (which was after all a Parliament for politicians to practice their duties under the democratic constitution); and secondly the fact that the realization of this building was indeed the dawn of activating new political values for the country, as it was about to facilitate the services for “practicing democracy”. How Kahn wanted the spaces of the Assembly complex to be used and the way they were used, varies during time. Not only the notion of democracy, but also the way people experience the complex are rather mutable. The accessibility and the openness of the complex are changing progressively and the public character refers less and less to the people. The fenced limits are transforming the public outdoor areas to rather private ones and the “symbol” of democracy, starts to go further away from the tangible sphere of spaces people can visit and experience. This makes us wonder up to what extent the National Assemble Complex will maintain its dynamic, if the most essential part of designing, the subject of designing, which is “people”, is no longer a part of its landscape ....
Sketch 3.1: Double facade. How to construct a model?
Fig. 5.1 Landscape for who?
04.
References
Ashraf, K. K. (2007) Taking Place: Landscape in the Architecture of Louis Kahn, Journal of Architectural Education. ACSA Frampton. K. (1995) Studies in Tectonic Culture: The Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Architecture. Cambridge: The MIT Press. Goldhagen, S. W. (2001). Louis Kahn’s Situated Modernism. New Haven: Yale University Press. Venturi, R. (1996) Iconography and Electronics Upon a Generic Architecture: A View from the Drafting Room. Cambridge: MIT Press. Heinz Ronner, Sharad Jhavari, Alessandro Vasela, (1977) LOUIS I. KAHN, complete work 1935-74, Insitute for the History and Theory of Architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland. Ahmed, Fahmid (2012) Water urbanism in the case of Dhaka: searching urban water intervention strategies for reclaiming and protecting the water bodies for an eco-city, Asian Congress of Architects (15th : 2012 : Bali, Indonesia), ARCASIA Bali2012 Andrew M. Shanken (2006) The Uncharted Kahn: The visually of Planning and Promotion in the 1930’s and 1940’s, Copyright 1982-2006 The H.W. Wilson Company. Mustafa Ali Faruki ,Location Dhaka: A study of potential inspirations for Louis Kahn’s National Assembly, GBER Vol. 3 No. 1 pp 15-25, School of Orient and African studies, London.
05. Model
Model photo 5.1: Double facade
Model photo 5.2: Precidential square
Model photo 5.3: Dormitoriums
06.
Figures
Figure 1.1. Approaching the water in Dhaka Retrieved from: http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/slideshow-photo/ dacca-on-local-ferry-in-bay-of-bengal-by-travelpod-member-radsolv-bangladesh-bangladesh. html?sid=10176222&fid=tp-9 Figure 1.2. Local ferry in bay Retrieved from: http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/slideshow-photo/ dacca-on-local-ferry-in-bay-of-bengal-by-travelpod-member-radsolv-bangladesh-bangladesh. html?sid=10176222&fid=tp-9 Figure 1.5. The water-concept as a river, around National Assembly building Retrieved from: http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/bangladesh,parliament/Interesting Figure 1.6. The water-concept as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;fountainâ&#x20AC;?, reflecting Taj mahal. Retrieved from: http://www.flagmagazin.hu/nagyvilag/keresik_a_vilag_het_uj_csodajat Figure 2.1. The street in Dhaka Retrieved from: http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/slideshow-photo/ dacca-on-local-ferry-in-bay-of-bengal-by-travelpod-member-radsolv-bangladesh-bangladesh. html?sid=10176222&fid=tp-9 Figure 3.1. Landscape for who? Retrieved from: http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/bangladesh,parliament/Interesting Figures 1.7-1.10, 1.12-1.16, 2.1-2.4. Photographed by Franz Ziegler Drawings 1.1-1.3, 2.1-2.2 Sketches 1.1-1.4 Model photos 5.1-5.4 Model photo 5.4: Water reflection
drawn, sketched, constructed & photographed by Sfakiotaki Eirini