Bengal Stream

The first publication on contemporary architecture in Bangladesh

Photographs by Iwan Baan

Exhibition tour to Germany, France, England and Italy in preparation

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, has one of the most important buildings of the 20th cen-tury: its parliamentary building by Louis I. Kahn constructed between 1961 and 1982. Little is known, however, about the local architecture scene that has emerged since then. Yet contemporary architecture in Bangladesh exhibits a strong formal idiom that has its roots in tradition and is combined with an innovative handling of local resources such as bamboo and brick.

Alongside texts by Andreas Ruby, Niklaus Graber, Kazi Khaleed, Saif Ul Haque and Syed Manzoorul Islam, the special photographs taken by Iwan Baan for this publication capture the imagination. Bengal Stream takes the reader on a lively architectural journey to a fascinating, and for many, unknown country located between India and Myanmar.

uncharacteristically for a book on architecture, ‘bengal stream’ shows scenes of everyday life — from the densely populated and rapidly growing cities like dhaka, to the country’s more rural areas. by providing a sense of context, the publication not only sheds new light on lesser known architectural projects, but also on the people and communities who occupy them on a day-to-day basis. (Philipp Stevens, designboom, 11.1.2018)