The WAPDA House (

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

/ Punjabi: ) is a nine-story

office building An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...

located in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

, Pakistan, that serves as the headquarters of the

Water and Power Development Authority The Pakistan Water & Power Development Authority (), colloquially known as WAPDA, is a Pakistani government-owned public utility agency maintaining hydropower and water in Pakistan, although it does not manage thermal power plants. WAPDA include ...

(WAPDA). It is one of several prominent government buildings located at

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...

on Lahore's Mall Road, officially known as Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam. The building shares views of the Punjab Provincial Assembly, Islamic Summit Minar,

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

, and other key landmarks. It was designed by the American architect

Edward Durell Stone Edward Durell Stone (March 9, 1902 – August 6, 1978) was an American architect known for the formal, highly decorative buildings he designed in the 1950s and 1960s. His works include the Museum of Modern Art, in New York City; the Parliament H ...

, and completed in 1967.

History

The Water and Power Development Authority was established in 1958 to develop Pakistan's

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

and power infrastructure. As the scope of WAPDA's operations increased, so did the number of its offices which were scattered throughout Lahore. The WAPDA House was accordingly conceived as a headquarters that would accommodate all WAPDA offices. The design was prepared by the American architect

in 1962. Around 33 kanals and 6 marlas of land were purchased and the existing Mela Ram and Jodha Mal buildings were demolished to make way for the site on Mall Road, where the building now stands. The total construction cost was estimated at . Former Prime Minister

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979) was a Pakistani barrister and politician who served as the fourth president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and later as the ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan from 19 ...

described the project as a symbol of

neocolonialism Neocolonialism is the control by a state (usually, a former colonial power) over another nominally independent state (usually, a former colony) through indirect means. The term ''neocolonialism'' was first used after World War II to refer to ...

, and called it a "white elephant" due to its enormous cost at the time. Construction was initiated in October 1963 and completed in 1967. The civil works and electrification were performed by local engineering firms. Around 17,000 tonnes of cement and 5,650 tonnes of steel were used for the construction, along with a large quantity of wood,

plate glass Plate glass, flat glass or sheet glass is a type of glass, initially produced in plane form, commonly used for windows, glass doors, transparent walls, and windscreens. For modern architectural and automotive applications, the flat glass is ...

and other masonry materials. Being the headquarters, the executive offices of WAPDA, Pakistan Electric Power Company and various other power companies are located here. Initially, the lower floors were rented out to private offices before the entire building came under WAPDA's control.

Structure

The WAPDA House has two underground

basement A basement is any Storey, floor of a building that is not above the grade plane. Especially in residential buildings, it often is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, water heating, ...

levels in addition to seven floors comprising the tower, containing around 1,000 rooms. It has a gross area of and a height of above ground level, excluding the roof. The rooftop features a perforated canopy with a high

plexiglas Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a synthetic polymer derived from methyl methacrylate. It is a transparent thermoplastic, used as an engineering plastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and bra ...

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

, covering a central rotunda that is in diameter. This interior circular hall extends to the full height of the building. On the ground floor, corridors of width each connect the three entrance halls to the circular hall. The architecture of the building combines old and

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

elements, and is distinct from that of surrounding structures. The whole exterior is made of

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. A bow window is a form of bay with a curve rather than angular facets; an oriel window is a bay window that does not touch the g ...

s, and square patterns are found on both the exterior and interior. The base

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

s are slender and rectangular. The top edges of the building consist of perforated

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

Features

WAPDA House is oriented into three wings, each with its own entrance: The Mall wing, which provides the main entrance; the tower section, which faces the

and Shahdin Manzil; and the Egerton Road wing which faces the Punjab Assembly chambers. The sub-basement contains parking spaces, and a 400-seat WAPDA

Auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...

that is used as a venue for conferences, seminars and public events. The auditorium is equipped with a stage and wide screen projectors. A sunken garden is located in front of the building which is influenced by Mughal themes. The first floor includes a prayer space for employees. All floors are serviced by a set of lifts, and contain centralised

washroom A bathroom is a room in which people wash their bodies or parts thereof. It can contain one or more of the following plumbing fixtures: a shower, a bathtub, a bidet, and a sink (also known as a wash basin in the United Kingdom). A toilet is al ...

s. The building is centrally air-conditioned. Several years ago, the basement lobby housed the now closed Saloo's Restaurant which was open to the general public.

References

{{The Mall, Lahore 1967 establishments in Pakistan Auditoriums in Pakistan Edward Durell Stone buildings Government buildings completed in 1967 Government buildings in Pakistan Office buildings completed in 1967 Office buildings in Lahore The Mall, Lahore Tourist attractions in Lahore

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

History

Structure

Features

See also

References