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Dhaka, Bangladesh Architecture
Dhaka is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. The following pictures were mostly compiled from across the web by forumers at Skyscrapercity, principally Tmac, who occasionally posts at this site too (I do not know the names of the original photographers). Over the course of the next week or two I hope to post info and pics about the main areas of Dhaka. For today I am only posting some pics of some of the more significant landmarks. Enjoy!
Lalbagh Fort (partial view) http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...tcimplex44.jpg Ahsan Manzil Museum http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...anmanjil66.jpg Dhaka University http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3457/...4fa253a8_b.jpg Supreme Court http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/fzaman-1.jpg National Assembly (Parliament) http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...misc/sher5.jpg National Memorial Monument http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...ntitled8-1.jpg Some history for those who are interested: Dhaka was founded as the capital of Mughal Bengal about 1608 and prospered as the focal point to a lucrative textiles trade and rich agricultural hinterland. In this period the city was probably one of the largest in the world. Shift of capital to Murshidabad in 1704 caused a decrease in importance but the city remained prosperous until destruction of textiles industry after advent of British rule in 1757. Thereafter, the city declined rapidly, with most of its Mughal era monuments falling into ruin and population decreasing to a fraction of its 17th century heyday. In the 18th cent. the city staged a modest recovery thanks to a boom in worldwide demand for jute, which was grown principally in Bengal. The city began to wake from its slumber when it once again, briefly, served as provincial capital (1905-1912), and with foundation of Dhaka University (1921), which quickly became one of the best in Asia at that time. End of British rule and partition of Bengal saw Dhaka become capital of East Pakistan (1947-1971). Although beautiful buildings were built during both British and Pakistani periods, they were times of economic stagnation and exploitation by the foreign rulers. Following a destructive liberation war, Dhaka finally became capital of a sovereign nation in 1971. The first two decades of this era were marked by political instability and slow development, but the pace of progress has gathered steam since the 1990s. Dhaka today is a booming, vibrant, and chaotic city which by all estimates will soon (once again) be one of the largest in the world. |
Dhaka Highrises
Before the 1990s, Dhaka highrises were primarily concentrated in one area, Motijheel. Today the city is much more decentralized, with at least half a dozen or so important clusters of highrise offices. Taller buildings in Dhaka are typically 20 - 30 stories, with several dozen in this height range and several dozen more under construction. There are of course many more in the 10 - 20 st. range. Tallest current is 31 st.; tallest under construction is 37 st. More significant than individual height are the numbers and density of these buildings. Not so long ago, private homes were not uncommon, but nowadays high cost of land and high population density (Dhaka is second only to Hong Kong) makes highrise apartment living increasingly the middle class norm. The pic below is a general view across central Dhaka. http://static.panoramio.com/photos/o...l/18082793.jpg |
Dhaka Tour - Old Dhaka
Old Dhaka is southernmost part of the city, lying on the north bank of the Buriganga River. This was the extent of the city until 1905. With demand for new construction and low priority given to architectural conservation, not many of the city’s historic monuments survive. Among Mughal monuments, the Lalbagh Fort has been fairly well preserved, in addition to several mosques. Also from the Mughal period, a couple of formerly impressive caravanserais exist in a ruinous state. Besides mosques, there are a number of historic temples and churches. There are many beautiful and grand, but decaying, colonial era buildings, especially mansions. Of these, the Ahsan Manzil has been restored and serves as a museum. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ghfortpano.jpg http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...iss-savage.jpg http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...ss-savage2.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...anmanjil96.jpg http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...anmanjil88.jpg http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...fe037549_b.jpg http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r94/tanzirian/fz.jpg http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...ritemple17.jpg http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...a19f2854_b.jpg http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...enpalace12.jpg |
thanks for your photos of Bangladesh's historic buildings,Persian, colonial design to modern design .Your congress buildings is very artistic &to be impressive to your architecture.
Who is one of the famous architectural design creators or firm.in your country??? |
^^ Hello, thanks for your comments. In regard to your question, there aren't any famous architects today that I know of by name...but there are some real estate firms like Bashundhara, Concord, Unique etc who build many of the midrises going up today. Fazlur Rahman Khan, one of the important architectural engineers of the 20th cent, came from Bangladesh. He designed the cross bracing system of the John Hancock Tower in Chicago, the bundled tube structure of the Sears Tower, and suspended roof of the Jeddah Hajj Terminal. These basic engineering innovations have been used in many buildings especially highrises / skyscrapers.
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Nice pictures, what is the population of the city?
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In the coming days and weeks, I will be posting some more collected photos of Dhaka, grouped by major area, so check back if interested :) |
Dhaka is huge. Its tough to tell how sprawling it is from these pics, but its on par with pretty much any of the supergiant Asian metropolises. Very unique architecture though.
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What an interestingly bizarre city! Very peculiar! :tup:
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I figured it must be big, it's one of the densest countries in the world, I think its got around 200 million, but I'm not too sure of that.
Edit: Wiki says Bangladesh has 150 million |
Dhaka Tour - Ramna (following posts)
The pics in this and next and few posts are of the Ramna area of Dhaka. Located north of the Old Town, Ramna is one of the most attractive areas of Dhaka IMO. This area was initially laid out when Dhaka briefly served as provincial capital of East Bengal (1905-1912) and more fully developed during the East Pakistan period. Today the area is home to some of the some of the most respected universities (Dhaka University, BUET, Dhaka Medical College), the Supreme Court, a number of important cultural institutions including the National Museum and Bangla Academy, Dhaka Sheraton (the first international standard luxury hotel when it opened in the 1960s as the Intercontinental) plus a number of important hospitals, parks, memorials, and HQs of a number of government organizations. Some older buildings from the Mughal and even pre-Mughal period can be found hidden away in some corners. As before, these pics were collected by several people at SSC - I do not know who the original photographers were. |
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Photos by F. Zaman....taken in the north of Ramna area. This area is home to the National Museum, two important hospitals, HQ of Bangladesh Radio, Sheraton hotel, etc. Going further north leads to the Kawran Bazar area which I will post on later.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...zirian/fz8.jpg http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...untitled68.jpg |
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First pic shows view across Ramna Park towards Shantinagar / Motijheel. Other areas in and around north Ramna:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...views200-1.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...kaviews110.jpg |
Cool pics, especially the older buildings.
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^^ Thanks.
Dhaka Tour - Motijheel (pics in next post) East of Ramna is Motijheel, developed from the 1950s as the first modern downtown of the city. Motijheel remained the main commercial center of the city until the 1990s, when areas further to the north became the main foci of development. Since then Motijheel has declined somewhat, and today isn't the most attractive area of town. However, there are still some important institutions headquartered here and there is some interesting modern architecture. Also, Motijheel is still home to Dhaka's current, as well as future tallest building. |
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