Habib Rahman (1915 – 1995) was an Indian architect who worked on the

Delhi Zoological Park The National Zoological Park (originally Delhi Zoo) is a zoo in New Delhi, India. A 16th-century citadel, a sprawling green island and a motley collection of animals and birds, all in the middle of a burgeoning urban Delhi. The zoo can be see ...

, Gandhi Ghat, and Rabindra Bhavan in New Delhi.

Biography

Habib Rahman obtained his

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university. In the UK, a Ba ...

in 1939 in Calcutta. He studied at the

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

and obtained his Masters in Architecture in 1944 (the first Indian to complete this programVijayta Lalwani
In photos: Architect Habib Rahman and the making of New Delhi in Nehru’s vision
''Scroll.in'', 6 October 2019). From 1944 to 1946, he worked at the architecture firms of Lawrence B. Anderson,

William Wurster William Wilson Wurster (October 20, 1895 – September 19, 1973) was an American architect and architectural teacher at the University of California, Berkeley, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, best known for his residential desig ...

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one ...

, and

Ely Jacques Kahn Ely Jacques Kahn (June 1, 1884September 5, 1972) was an American commercial architect who designed numerous skyscrapers in New York City in the twentieth century. In addition to buildings intended for commercial use, Kahn's designs ranged throug ...

in Boston.Ram Rahman
Tribute to Habib Rahman
''Tribute'', March–April 1996 Habib Rahman returned to

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

during the 1946 Calcutta riots and became the Senior Architect of the government of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

from 1947 to 1953. Starting in 1953, Habib Rahman became the Senior Architect of the

Central Public Works Department The Central Public Works Department (Hindi: केंद्रीय लोक निर्माण विभाग), commonly referred to as the CPWD, is a premier Central Government authority in charge of public sector works. The Central Public ...

in New Delhi (and became Chief Architect in 1970). From 1974 to 1977, he was Secretary of the Delhi Urban Arts. In 1977, his contract was discontinued after he opposed several projects including building a second Connaught Place in New Delhi.

Work

During the 1950s and 1960s, the

Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

government invited architects, among which Habib Rahman, to develop new public buildings built in the spirit of the independence of India. He designed the Gandhi Ghat in 1949 in Barrackpore, the New Secretariat in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

(completed in 1954), the Dak Bhawan in 1954, the Rabindra Bhavan in 1961 (or 1963), the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

in Delhi in 1962 (demolished in July 2019), the Sardar Patel Bhawan in 1973 (opposite to the Dak Bhawan). He also designed the National Zoological Park that opened in 1959 (which included historical ruins, and housed over a thousand animal species). He also built the memorials of

Abul Kalam Azad Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin Ahmed bin Khairuddin Al-Hussaini Azad (; 11 November 1888 – 22 February 1958) was an Indian independence activist, Islamic theologian, writer and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress. Following In ...

Zakir Husain Zakir Husain Khan (8 February 1897 – 3 May 1969) was an Indian educationist and politician who served as the third president of India from 13 May 1967 until his death on 3 May 1969. Born in Hyderabad in a Afridi Pashtun family, Husain ...

and

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (13 May 1905 – 11 February 1977) was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the fifth president of India from 1974 to 1977. Born in Delhi, Ahmed studied in Delhi and Cambridge and was called to the bar from the ...

. Habib Rahman's architecture mirrored the modernist ethos of the newly Independent India.

Bibliography

*S M Akhtar, ''Habib Rahman, The Architect of Independent India'', 2016 ()

Awards

*1955:

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

*1974:

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

*1995: JK Cement Architect of the Year Chairman's Award for Life Achievement

Personal life

In 1945 he married Indrani Rahman, Miss India 1952 and an

Odissi Odissi (), also referred to as Orissi in old literature, is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the temples of Odisha – an eastern coastal state of India.Ram Rahman and Sukanya Rahman.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rahman, Habib 20th-century Indian architects Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in science & engineering 1915 births 1995 deaths