It was as though the beauty, heritage, and history of Mymensingh were plotting the becoming of Architect Masudur Rahman Khan – his birth city. Growing up in vast and glorious Mymensingh, which runs along Old Brahmaputra’s shores and birthed the Nakshi Kantha, Maimansingha Gitika and Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin, the BUET-alum Architect fashions his edifices from the collective memories of his childhood.
But Dhaka’s austerity pains his artistic-architectural persona. The Principal Architect of Bashat Architects Engineers, one jovial soul, sights saying Dhaka has lost her soul in a very stern design language.
His already kindred spirit was set on the path of inventiveness by celebrated sculptor Professor Alak Roy, in Masudur Rahman’s formative years. “I used to watch Alak Da’s sketches as a pre-schooler. If he could draw, so could I,” said the architect, reminiscing a coloured childhood. He began practising art on his own.
As only a tenth grader, his reputation as a young artist secured him a contract to design a stadium entrance in Mymensingh.
However, the architect now famed for designing the Zia Udyan did not even know architecture as an academic endeavour back then. His commitment to art and all things creative eventually drove him to BUET’s Architecture Department.
Though initially Ziaur Rahman’s mausoleum was designed by CAPE (architect Raziul Ahsan) and later the new Development & Re-design of the whole Mausoleum complex including the Bridge that spreads over the crescent lake was designed by Architect Masud Khan.
“Architecture is not just calculation and laws. Laws can’t rule architecture,” he added. Despite that, the lion’s share of Dhaka’s structures looks the same, deeply inflicting his principles. He opined, sadly, that architecture has been reduced down to “square feet,” derailing the hidden artistry in architecture to something far more materialistic and commercial.
Although architecture is an art form painted with industrial elements, the primal goal of any architect should be to emancipate it from ultra-civic structuredness and inspire art in it. If designed from the heart, architecture carries the power to pass down an entire civilisation’s culture through a single establishment, standing tall against the test of time and wind of change — Agra’s Taj Mahal for example.
It is needless to say that an architect has also to be mindful of an establishment’s utility, sustainability and structural integrity. But none of it should be at the expense of the artistic value of the craft itself. The form must follow the function!
A career architect, but Masudur Rahman deems architecture hardly as a profession; but rather as a medium of artistic expression. “When I design a building, I design it from the ground up like a sculpture,” said the architect. “An establishment must inspire; elicit a lasting impression in, say, a passers-by or a layperson. Just like a sculpture is for everyone’s eyes, so are buildings; at least mine are.”
Thereafter this architect does consider factors like locational context, aeration, lighting, ease of access to entrances, emergency exits, etc.
Despite the dissatisfaction with the overall scenario of where architectural practice in Dhaka is already standing, he expresses gratitude for the limited – yet fulfilling – projects he has already executed in his career expanding over three decades.
Developing countries like ours create opportunities for a lot of things, levelling the playing field for architects from all over the country to do good, and do better. But with increased opportunity, comes increased challenge. Through this challenge, may emerge some structures that ‘stand’ out of the crowd.
Nonetheless, the very modern architect thinks that “Going Green” and “sustainable” are no more than shady slogans. But how he backs up his statement is interesting. 
“A good person won’t lie. That’s not exceptional. That’s just normal,” he alluded. “A structure – a good structure – is supposed to be green by design. Good architecture should encompass all that intrinsically.”
Establishments that conform to natural means of aeration and lighting and do not have to be made green ‘artificially’ are already here in Dhaka. “I often stop by to observe some of my acquaintances’ work and appreciate their genius. I am still learning even at this point in my career,” he added.
One such of his passion projects is the under-construction International Mother Language Institute (IMLI) in Segun Bagicha, which has neared 50% completion. To design a language institute, the first image that came to Masudur Rahman was of a book, understandably. The eccentric architect thus designed the entire complex around an open book.
The establishment had to serve very specific purposes but it had also to satisfy its vision. That this place is not a commercial building, had to be understood at first glimpse. Adding murals to the entrance that signify language lent it the form its architect had in mind. But his idea of a design around an open book was implemented so very subtly that it becomes evident how artistically driven this particular individual is.
Even the name of his architecture firm, Bashat, meaning a habitat, reflects the inner workings of his mind. To him, architecture must enhance the art of living and not limit it. One has to feel at home when one starts living in his designed apartments. One has to enjoy working when one starts working in his designed commercial complex.
“Too many cooks spoil the broth.” Masudur Rahman used the expression towards the end to describe the current situation of this city’s suffocating concrete labyrinth.
“Back in my day, no more than some 30 architects would enter the market each year. But now there are more architects than there are structures. The need for too many buildings urges too many architects who sometimes end up doing shoddy work in a rush, just so that they can skip to the next project. Passion is no longer the driving force behind this millennia-old art form. The new architects also learn the craft hastily. Proof of that is visible in the nearly homogenous buildings dotting this sick and coughing city. Too many of them are working either blindly or replicating one another’s work, deeply and badly impacting the entire scene,” exclaimed the architect.
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