Habib Rahman

Habib Rahman (1915 – 19 December 1995 ) was an Indian architect. Regarded as a pioneer of the Bauhaus style of architecture in India, Rahman was known for combining Indian architectural elements into modernist designs.

Born in Calcutta, Rahman was educated at the University of Calcutta and later at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After a brief stint in the United States, he returned to India in 1946, and was appointed senior architect for the government of West Bengal. Rahman's work in West Bengal includes the Gandhi Ghat, Bengal Engineering College, ). From 1944 to 1946, he worked at the architecture firms of Lawrence B. Anderson, William Wurster, Walter Gropius, and Ely Jacques Kahn in Boston.

Work in Calcutta (1946-1953) He returned to Calcutta in 1946 and worked as senior architect of the government of West Bengal from 1947 to 1953.

His first major project was the Gandhi Ghat, a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi built in 1948. The design impressed Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and he invited Rahman to Delhi to design government buildings.

Work in Delhi (1953-1976) In 1953, Habib Rahman was appointed senior architect of the Central Public Works Department in New Delhi. Azad was buried in the area between the Red Fort and Jama Masjid. As per Nehru's requirements, the design of the tomb was not to conflict with the heritage sites, and to reflect the "humble personality" of Azad. The tomb is a modernist interpretation of the chhatri, made up of white marble and cement, set in a charbagh garden.

In the early 1960s, he was commissioned to design the Rabindra Bhavan, which would house the Lalit Kala, Sangeet Natak and Sahitya academies. Initial designs were overruled by Nehru.

He designed the Rabindra Bhavan in 1961 (or 1963),

In 1970, he was appointed chief of the Central Public Works Department. From 1974 to 1977, he was Secretary of the Delhi Urban Arts.

Later life and death After retiring, he remained active as a consultant despite poor health. He had one leg amputated below the knee in 1985. He died in 1995.