Alhamra Arts Council

ALHAMRA ARTS COUNCIL, LAHORE
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF ARCHITECTURE IN LAHORE

At that time, the Mughal presence in the city has left strong stylistic features and imprints. And the influence
of the Mughals was complexed. Early Mughal architecture used brick and polychromatic materials in their
buildings and architecture. And then in the late Mughal period, they used and works with the plain white
marble. And in these both periods of Mughals the architecture of that time maintained a critical balance
between the massive structure of their buildings and the light and transparent screen partitions. Axial
relationship and symmetry in their building structures are the two very important organizing factors.
Later the Sikh comes and their presence in the city created a series of colorful and ornate structures. And
then the British period comes and they used both the Mughals and Sikh elements and materials on the
facades of the important state building of that time but the used the floor plans which shows the local
architecture and their concerns of that time. After that the post-colonial period comes which contains the
two main streams of architecture. The first was the international style architecture which was influenced by
the work of le Corbusier and the brutalist style and the second style was the continuation to the tradition of
colonial period of mixing modern planning with the ornamented facades.
CONTEXT OF ALHAMRA ARTS COUNCIL

Alhamra Arts Council is located on the corner of the old mall road of
Lahore, and it is now known as the Shahrah Quaid-e-Azam. It was
designed by the architect Nayyer Ali Dada. The mall road was built
during the colonial period of that time to connect the city center with
the military cantonment. One end of the mall road is commercial and it
reflects the bricks, neo gothic and local Mughal traditions in those
buildings. And the other end which is some far away from the center is
loosely built up with the traditions of the last century in their buildings
facades and structures.
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE
The project of alhamra arts council reflects the vernacular architecture and the mordernism a it is simple yet
complexed. It is the two fold desire of Nayyer Ali Dada as he wants to incorporate the contenmporary
architecture as well as it realtes to the strong pre-existing traditions. It is a very popular and successful public
building, as it is projecting the complexities in a simple and powerful manner which lies in mordernism.
The building has also been awarded Agha Khan International Award for its excellent architecture.
FUNCTIONS OF ALHAMRA ARTS COUNCIL

“LAHORE CAN BE SAID AS THE CULTURAL HEART OF THE PAKISTAN AND ALHAMRA
IS THE CULTURAL HEART OF LAHORE”.
Alhamra is considered as the center of cultural activities in lahore. Many activities are held
at Alhmara Arts Council. The activities and functions that are going there are the theatre performances in
their auditoriums. Different types of activities are organized here as Folk, Sufi, Humurous and music
theatres. Musical concerts are also organized and many debating socities also use the auditoriums for
debating competitions. Other ceremonies and family functions also held there by different institutions. And
also many political speeches delivered here by the renowed politicians.
Art gallery of the alhmara hall is used for the purpose of the exhibitions there. Many artists display there
paintings and pieces of art like sculptures here. Many renowed photographers and students also comes here
for the exhibition and to visit the pieces of art displayed there.Also there is an eastablishes academy for the
students to learn and how to play different musical instruments, how to sing, how to dance and how to paint
different mediums.
Originally, it was to include the multi-purpose auditorium, theatre, art galleries, music, dance acadmy,
administration block, restaurant and classrooms for art.In short, if we concluded the functions and activities
of this building is that it is a place of organizing different cultural activities, their programs, functions,stage
dramas, puppet shows, musical concerts, film projections, seminars, exhibitions and a place for art lovers
from where anyone can get training, buy paintings, listen music etc. it is the most popular place for art lovers
and there is not even a single day when no activity is being conducted here.
FORM OF ALHAMRA
After the derivation of the functions and purpose of
the building Nayyer Ali Dada started from the idea
that the polygon is the shape that works well with the
acoustics requirements of the performance of arts.
This shape was used in various possible
combinations. He conceived the desire of finding the
contemporary architectural expression of the pre-
existing tradition as well as to provide acoustically
and visually successful spaces for performances.
Nayyer Ali Dada developed the series of the polygonal shapes as it was used as s solid mass while other
times to soften the massive scale of the theatres. The ambitious master plan was drawn up for a complex of
buildings to meet the expanding needs of the organization. The complex comprises of the auditorium,
theatre, art gallery, music center housed in the three separate wings each based on the octagonal forms. The
walls are separated at the corners and glazed vertical strips were inserted. As the plan is slightly elongated
octagon and the walls are tapper inwards. At the corners, the walls are separated to reveal the vertical bands
of recessed glazing which softens the theatre mass. Bearing walls are used which are being tapered, slanted
inwards and disengaged at the 22 corners.
At the corners walls are separated showing the octagonal structure
DESIGN OF ALHAMRA IN CONSTRUCTION PHASES

The design of Alhamra is held under the four design phases as after the completion of auditorium in 1979
the art council was taken under the government agency called Lahore art council and it administered the
other three stages of the project.
PHASE 1
Design 1976-1977
Construction 1977-1979
Project occupancy 1979
In phase 1, the walls are tapper inwards and separated at the corners which softens the theatre mass. Two
smaller octagons that contains the backstage facilities are located on one side of the fly tower and the
courtyard.
PHASE 2
Design 1980-1982
In the phase 2, the north east of the theatre was built and it was completed in 1984. It contains the four
octagonal structures symmetrically arranges in the center and also the administration, offices and exhibition
galleries constructed in this phase.
PHASE 3
Design 1983
In the third phase, hexagonal brick building was attached to the back side corner of the phase one. The small
auditorium inside is accessible from the courtyard. And this phase is completed in 1985.
PHASE 4
Design 1989
The phase four consists of the set at the rear side of the site, is two octagons and the larger one contains the
small auditorium for the lectures.
Plan of Alhamra showing the four phases

MATERIALS
Alhamra is an Arabic word which means a woman in red clothes. And this is given to the royal enclave in
Cordoba Spain and all of their building and palaces were constructed in red bricks. Then this idea is
illustrated by Nayyer Ali Dada for the building style of arts council. Since the buildings in Spain were in red
color, the bricks used in Alhamra building are also in red color. It is the basic idea of Nayyer Ali Dada of
using the solid red bricks. As he was famous in his earlier works for
using the concrete surfaces and then he is choosing to work with the
traditional materials. Red brick is the main building materials in the
Lahore Fort and Badshahi Mosque, the two most important
buildings in the city. As these materials was selected by the British
because it is between the neo gothic and the local traditional and
most of the old buildings at the beginning of mall road is also on red
brick. Vertical reinforced concrete buttresses were used inside the
wall to support the inclined walls, along with the steel pipes
scaffolding and steel plate shuttering.
Nayyer Ali Dada keep the ornamentation to minimum standard. The only ornamentation used in the two
iron doors in the construction phase 3 and 4.
CONTRUCTION DETAILS
Foundations Stirrup foundations are used in reinforced
concrete material
Structural members Concrete column and beam framed
structure is used
Infill materials Handmade hollow brick walls and the
bricks are fired before used
Façade and the exterior finishes Exposed brick work is used and with lime
and surkhi mortar
Floors of Alhamra Terrazzo floors are used
Roofing Steel trusses above the auditorium with the
sheet roofing are used, the galleries and the
admin block have R.C.C roofing
Ceilings Acoustic plaster ceiling in auditorium with
no false ceiling in other areas
Other elements Hollow exterior walls exists and it also
cater the insulation
INTERIOR
The art galleries are used for the exhibition and in the octagonal building and it has a r.c.c ceiling. And is
situated on the ground floor.
There are three types of stairs used
Broad Stairs led to theatre Stairs that led to art gallery Stairs led to two-level lobby
There is two level lobby under the theatre seating and it is shown by the stepped ceiling plan.
Foyer level and its plan
FLOOR PLANS OF ALHAMRA

 Puppet shop
 Plant room
 Store
 Foyer
 Workshop
 Recording studio
 Control room
BASEMENT FLOOR PLAN

 Foyer
 Main auditorium
 Stage
 Theatre
 Offices
 Art gallery
 Dressing rooms
GROUND FLOOR PLAN

 foyer below
 Stage library
 Rehearsal room
 Dressing room
 Toilets
 Store ‘drying
 Lockers
 Open plan office
 Back stage
 Void below
FIRST FLOOR PLAN

CONCLUSION
As we discussed above that Alhamra is a hub of cultural activities and functions and specially a place for art
lovers. And as the Nayyer Ali Dada used the inclined walls and polygonal and octagonal shape buildings.
The function totally goes with the form and exterior or interior of the building because exterior is built after
the development of the purpose and function of the building and then according to the function purpose the
shape of the building is designed. As the function is of performance so the polygonal shape is used which
control the acoustics and sounds to come outside and secondly the inclined walls are used with the glazing
at the separation of walls which softens the mass of the auditoriums and the theatres which are larger in
mass and the materials are also used which goes with the vernacular architecture and pre-existing traditions
so, materials and architectural style also have a strong relationship with each other. And the space under
the theatre seating is also use in the interior by giving the foyer there a stepped ceiling plan so every space is
flexible and usable and in accordance to the context of the building.

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ALHAMRA ARTS COUNCIL, LAHORE

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF ARCHITECTURE IN LAHORE

CONTEXT OF ALHAMRA ARTS COUNCIL

FUNCTIONS OF ALHAMRA ARTS COUNCIL

At the corners walls are separated showing the octagonal structure

DESIGN OF ALHAMRA IN CONSTRUCTION PHASES

Plan of Alhamra showing the four phases

Foyer level and its plan

FLOOR PLANS OF ALHAMRA

BASEMENT FLOOR PLAN

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

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