ABSTRACT
Planned between 1959 and 1963 in accordance with a master plan prepared by Constantinos Doxiadis Associates of Athens, Islamabad provided the first occasion for capital planners to reconsider the city designs put forth for Chandigarh and Brasilia. Though designed capitals share certain features, each is produced by a unique set of physical, social, economic, cultural, and political forces, centered on the wishes of powerful designers and politicians. Discussion of the capitol complex as a vehicle for the symbolic expression of national identity must recognize that parliament buildings are, in theory at least, expected to be functioning institutions. The iconographic discrepancy between the political proclamations of unity and the architectural evocations of factional preference is significant, but it is not the most fundamental incongruity. The instability of capitol institutions and the infusion of symbolic vernacular references into much of capitol architecture are thus ultimately and intimately connected.
