Bashirul Haq

Haq was born in Brahmanbaria (now a district of Bangladesh). His father was a Deputy Collector from the Sylhet district and for that reason, Haq spent the majority of his childhood there. He completed his Bachelor of Architecture from the National College of Arts, in Lahore, Pakistan in 1964. He received John Heinrich Tuition, Scholarship and Teaching Assistantship at University of New Mexico, United States in 1971 and completed his masters in architecture from the university in 1975.[1]

Haq (4th from right) at SUST jury session

From left; Haq, Ken Yeang and Kazi Ashraf

After completing his master's degree, Haq started working for the firm Kallmann McKinnell. He was interested in returning to his homeland. However, another Bangladeshi-American engineer FR Khan discouraged him from returning to Bangladesh citing a newly independent war devastated nation. Khan, who was then the partner of SOM instead interviewed and advised Haq to join there. Khan suggested he visit Europe and return to the USA. But Haq flew to Bangladesh from Europe and started practicing architecture. He established Bashirul Haq & Associates in 1977.[2] After several years of not visiting the United States, in 1989, he visited Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an invited design critic.

In his 45 years of professional career, Haq has designed more than 300 buildings. According to Haq, the works of Alvar Aalto and Aldo Rossi inspired him most.

• Aga Khan Award for Architecture, shortlisted in 1980, 1992 and 2001[3]
• Member, Board of Trustees, Fazlur Rahman Khan Foundation, Dhaka[1]
• Became part of an International Exhibit Entitled 5000 years of Pakistan
• Chairman of the jury board, Holcim Green Built Bangladesh Award[4][5]

• 1994 “Battling the Storm – Study on Cyclone Resistance Housing“. Published by the German Red Cross, 1999.

• Muzharul Islam
• B.V. Doshi
• Charles Correa
• Raj Rewal