"The ministry has decided to construct a building for the academy and tender will be floated to get the best possible design for it," said Mansur Musa, Bangla Academy director-general, after a November 10 meeting on the plan.

Ekushey Bhaban's design will reflect the symbolic value of national unity. "People will identify Bangladesh with Ekushey Bhaban like the Eiffel Tower or Tokyo Tower," Musa said.

The academy came into being as a result of the language movement of February 21, 1952. "But no architectural structure was erected for the academy in remembrance of the historic day," the DG said.

"We need not acquire space for the building, as 3.82 bigha land on the western side of the pond within the academy boundary has been earmarked for it," Musa said.

According to the original plan, the design of the building will be based on numbers 21 and 52 to immortalise the language movement of February 21, 1952. It will be a 21-storey building on 400 square metres and will house a museum with 52 rooms. A modern auditorium will accommodate 1,092 seats -- the multiplication of numbers 21 and 52.

The building will accommodate a studio, a recording centre and a listening centre. A research library, a newspaper library, an audio-visual electronic library and a bookstore for academy publications will also be there. Twenty-one guestrooms of international standards will be built for researchers and tourists from abroad.

The authorities timed the inauguration of symbolic Ekushey Bhaban to coincide with Bangla Academy's celebrations of its golden jubilee in 2005.

"The academy will soon estimate funds after the appropriate architectural design for the Bhaban. The Public Works Department will be involved in the construction of the building," Musa said.

Since the establishment of the academy in 1955, administrative and academic work has been carried out in two buildings, one of them is old Burdawan House built in 1906 for the Burdawan Raj during the British rule.

Burdawan Bhaban is now too run-down for the library and other research and academic work. "The library and offices should be shifted to other places if to function properly," the DG said.

As the activity of Bangla Academy increased through time, a press building was constructed. Administrative work is also done in the building, but it is not enough for the need of space, the academy officials said.

Burdawan Bhaban will be preserved as the archaeological heritage of Dhaka. The open space will be used for the Ekushey book fair and the pond will be kept intact for environmental reasons.