In addition to his training as an architect at the Bangladesh Engineering University, Uttam Kumar Saha (born 1957) has a background in photography and singing. Saha worked with Bashirul Haque and Consociates Ltd, until starting his own practice in 1988 as Nandan Architects, Engineers and Planners. He is a founding member of Chetana Study Group, member of the Executive Committee of the Insitute of Architects Bangladesh (1990-93, 93-95), and has participated in a number of architectural juries and seminars. Saha's work has appeared in a number of publications including A+D Magazine, A+D SAARC Architecture Issue, Mimar, and Marg Publication. He cites the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the architect Muzharul Islam, Louis I. Kahn's work in Dhaka and, above all, Rabindranath Tagore, as inspirations in his work. He credits Rabindranath Tagore especially for having sown a sense of beauty and truth in him.
"My search in architecture is a struggle for expression, a struggle to resolve the contradictions of form - content, simple/complex, nature/built environment, humane/monumental, contemporary/traditional, urban/rural, dream/reality, folk/classical, and so on, through my designs. My architecture, to me, is not my creation, rather I, myself, am one of its ingredients. My belief is in the truth, the simple, the warm, reflecting the nature of the country's people."
