Muzharul Islam (1923-2012) is widely acclaimed as the most influential architect of Bangladesh. His pioneering work from the 1950s onwards not only signalled the advent of Modernism in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan), but almost overnight introduced a fresh culture of architecture in the contemporary scene hitherto populated by lesser examples of international style. Teacher, Architect Activist, and Politician, Islam set to course architectural practice in the country not only through his own many varied works, but contributing to the architectural education in the country and also through being instrumental in inviting the likes of Louis I Kahn, Stanley Tigerman and Paul Rudolph to work in Bangladesh. The summation of his oeuvre is impossible without an understanding of Muzharul Islam’s deep seated concern and commitment to societal change and the strength of ethics of practice, which results in his work and thinking being considered as a vehicle for transformation rather than as an end in itself. The present this web site offers a comprehensive documentation of the man and his work. Selected projects and works help trace a career spanning more than fifty years and give appraisal to a masterly production which has come to transgress history, boundaries and styles. In 1942 Islam received his Bachelor of Science from Calcutta University, in 1946 Bachelor of Engineering from Calcutta, in 1952 Bachelor of Architecture from University of Oregon, USA, in 1957 a post Graduate Certificate in Tropical Architecture from The A.A. School of Architecture in London, and in 1961 he received his Master Degree in Architecture from Yale University, USA. On returning to his country he took it upon himself not only to establish a modernist language of architecture in this region that was sensitive to our social, cultural, climatic and economic context, but also to organise the practise and education of architecture in the country. Muzharul Islam was a true modernist and fought to establish a Bengali modernity free from any kind of strains of superficial regionalism. In his own words “You have to be a world man and a Bengali. It’s impossible otherwise…. When I mention standing on one’s own soil… it is to find oneself, but not to find oneself and become stagnant. What I am seeking is to stand on one’s own feet and then to proceed forward. If for that reason I have to take two steps backward to go one step forward.
