Crossing the chaotic Faizabad interchange and entering the beautiful capital through its serene highway is bliss for many who are caught in the densely populated labyrinth of adjacent Rawalpindi and its chaotic traffic.

Moving further on the highway to zero-point and adjacent sectors, the patched roads, sparkling markets, and orderly traffic are the first few glimpses of Islamabad to a stranger — Pakistan’s capital and its only planned city.

It was an ordinary evening in June when I received a call from a friend, asking if there was some place they could display the contents of a package they had received from the UK. “The box belonged to a foreign architect who has worked in Pakistan,” he said, requesting me to drop by his home the next day.

The next evening, over tea, he brought out a big plastic box that bore the title, ‘Brigden’. The box was full of maps, pictures, drawings and sketches that bore the insignia of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and other allied departments, with a wooden plate that bore the name of ‘Architect Gerard Brigden’.

Deep down in the box, among the pile of maps and photographs was a collection of papers assembled as a diary describing various phases of Islamabad, from its conception to development, written by ‘Gerard Brigden’ — the first chief architect of Islamabad. To my astonishment, this red box contained the untold architectural story of Islamabad, the magnificent capital.

The inception

Not many know that the idea of building a planned new capital was conceptualised right after Partition in 1947. However, irrespective of discussions and several proposals, no action was taken until the arrival of President Ayub Khan in 1958. Untill then, the country was administered from Karachi — which with time had become crowded with people attracted by its growing prosperity.

In 1959, a Federal Capital Commission was formulated to decide upon the location of the country’s new capital. The terms of reference were to choose a site on the basis of geographical situation, climate, communication links and security.

After much contemplation, a site nine miles north of Rawalpindi was finalised. The suggested site that now encompasses present-day Islamabad was situated on a plateau, between 1,600 and 1,900 feet above sea level, bound by the Himalayan mountain range on its northern side, which rises up to 3,000 feet above the plain.

In 1960, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) was established, with Wazir Ali Shaikh as its chairman. The CDA, then housed in Rawalpindi, was tasked to look for architects to design the new capital. Due to a lack of local urban planners, Doxiadis Associates, a Greek town planning firm was hired to prepare a layout plan for the new capital.

Sir Robert Matthew was appointed the coordinating architect for the administration centre and Gio Ponti was commissioned to design the government’s administrative offices.

Under the Colombo Plan in 1962, the British government provided a team of experts to assist the Government of Pakistan, including a chief architect, two architects, a structural engineer, a quality surveyor and a clerk of works. Gerard Brigden, who was the chief architect in the team, was immediately appointed as chief architect to CDA to supervise the development and construction of Islamabad.

The grid

Dioxidis developed a theory called ‘Dynapolis’ to erect the new capital. It described the development of a city that would spread out in a linear fashion from a central point.

As the city would grow, the city’s development would proceed further and further from the centre. Bridgon made essential enhancements to the original plan, envisioning a city divided into various sectors with small central markets — a bigger commercial hub was later included in plan.

Hence, each sector was allotted small shops, a primary school, a market, a health centre, and a prayer space to serve the houses in the area. Four sectors combined were provided with more elaborate facilities, such as a larger commercial centre, and so on.

Challenges

Per a half-finished typed manuscript among Brigden’s documents, his time in Islamabad was stimulating, yet challenging. Having spent his early years with the Royal Air Force in World War II, he had vast experience of architecture in the UK and Singapore before being appointed as chief architect of the capital of Pakistan in March 1962.

The initial days were marked with various impediments, he wrote. “In those days, there was no mechanical equipment or transport. Foundations were dug by teams of men with shovels and buckets and debris was removed by donkeys with panniers strapped to their backs.

“Material was brought to the site by camel trains. The government buildings were built with bricks of small dimensions — Roman bricks that were made and fired on site. Each brick was measured, rubbed down to the perfect shape and those that were flawed, rejected,” he wrote, describing the initial days of building Islamabad.

One of the biggest challenges for the team was designing the layout of the residential quarters for government officials. Brigden, as chief architect, found a solution by amalgamating design theory with cultural ethos. “I made a survey of the local villages to learn the basic traditions and culture of the area,” he wrote in his personal diary.

He cited three major factors that he took into consideration when designing buildings for the new capital. The first was the availability of building material and experience in modern construction. The second was the climatic conditions and the third, the architectural reference to Islamic history and building for the future.

“From the survey, I developed designs in which houses were entered through a courtyard and have high-level windows for privacy,” he wrote. Brigden designed the houses with vaulted bricks roofs covered with a mixture of straw, earth and dung — a traditional and effective method of insulation, topped with a layer of bricks tiles for protection.

The designs by Brigden were at once approved by the CDA board. Later, he designed housing layouts for sectors G6 and G7, along with shopping areas, primary schools, a prayer space, covered market and health centres, besides a government hostel and accommodation for members of Parliament.

“I considered that the buildings in Islamabad should reflect the wonderful Mughal traditions, in a way that would be suitable for a new nation and its people,” he wrote, explaining the concepts behind his design.

He also implemented a similar design scheme for the state guest house, the Supreme Court building and Parliament building, but due to the change of government, the designs were not materialised.

In his book, The new capitals of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Norwegian author Sten Nilsson complimented the formation of Islamabad as the right approach to the development of a new capital and appreciated the early housing designs and layouts, covered bazaar and the government hostel by Chief Architect Brigden.

In 1962, when Brigden arrived in Islamabad, the city hardly had a few roads. Within the next five years, an entire city — the capital of a country — populated by a whole community, from top administration officials to daily wage workers, serviced by shops, schools and health services was in place and working order.

As a Pakistan Times report observed on October 15,1963, “What was previously a ghost town is now beaming with life. The shops, schools, dispensary, post offices, cafeteria in the Aabpara where the employees have been settled, present a happy spectacle of the progress of life”.

Brigden worked as Chief Architect for the CDA from March 1962 until August 1966. Owing to the change of government, funds were allocated other areas, which delayed further development in the capital. That’s when Brigden decided to move on to other projects outside Pakistan.

“Looking back, I would say that my years in Islamabad were the most satisfactory years of my career,” he wrote in his notes. “The close cooperation by all concerned was, without doubt, the main factor that enabled the buildings to be designed and constructed, and for the government staff to move up and to start operating from Islamabad in a period of just four years.”

Accolades

Gerard Brigden was later awarded the Order of the British Empire for his services toward the development of Islamabad by the British government.

In 2006, Gerard Brigden was invited to return to Islamabad to an official welcome by the British High Commission and the Pakistan Institute of Architects, where he was presented a key to the city in commemoration of his services for Islamabad. He later wrote a letter to then president General (R) Musharraf, expressing his thoughts about the capital and the current infrastructure.

In his last observations about the capital, alongside complimenting the development, he also showed disbelief on the more recent construction, influenced by the American concept of development. To him, the seven-eight storey and and even higher-rise buildings were not suitable for Islamabad due to its susceptibility to earthquake tremors of up to 7.0 on the richter scale. “It was because of my awareness of this possible risk that I decided [that] no building should be constructed over three stories in height and they should have a ring beam at each storey for stability,” he wrote.

Bed ridden, yet spirited in his last years, Gerard Brigden passed away in 2015 in France at the age of 92. It was while disposing of his personal belongings when his son discovered his affiliation with Pakistan and the historic documents in his possession.

He contacted Pakistanis in in his circle to donate the memories of his father and the capital he envisioned to be preserved. That’s how this carton full of memories and significant contributions to Pakistan landed with us for display and archiving.

As a political party comprising ranking members of the cultural stature, the incumbent government has taken a number of constructive steps to promote heritage and culture.

Almost 62 years have passed since the conceptualisation of Islamabad. It is high time that the authorities set up a proper mechanism for archiving such invaluable historical documents vis-à-vis the development of the capital of Pakistan and recognise the contributions of the men and women who developed it in its infancy, lest this trove of knowledge is lost on future generations.

Header image: An aerial view of Islamabad in the early stages of development. — Photo provided by author from Gerard Brigden’s archives