Archinect - News

UK ends EU licensure reciprocity with new Architects Act 1997 amendments

2023-01-23T15:03:00-05:00

A pair of unprecedented changes to the UK’s Architects Act 1997 has been announced jointly by the British Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Architects Registration Board (ARB), ending the reciprocal acceptance of qualifications for EU-trained architects that has been observed since it was first established by Parliament.

Under the new guidelines, the UK will “end, in law, the automatic recognition of architectural qualifications listed in the EU’s Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications.” It will also enable the ARB to enter into “regular-led” recognition agreements with international counterparts, in effect leaving the door open for reciprocity agreements to be negotiated with professional bodies from other individual countries on a case-by-case basis.

This comes after the ARB finally hammered out a deal last year with the American National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) to ratify a Mutual Recognition Agreement that...

David Adjaye's controversial UK Holocaust Memorial gets final approval

2021-07-30T08:00:00-04:00

David Adjaye’s proposed UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Westminster, London is going forward after gaining approval from the Minister of State for Housing Christopher Pincher this week.

The memorial has drawn a considerable amount of backlash in the Commonwealth since being announced in 2017. After a campaign against it by non-profits like the Royal Parks charity, the plan was officially recalled by Pincher’s predecessor in November of 2019 and rejected unanimously by the Westminster City Council four months later over its supposed intrusiveness and unsettling tone.

A public inquiry into the project was then held by an independent planning inspector whose recommendations were thus handed to Pincher’s office for approval in early spring. Adjaye said before the inquiry process that he felt anti-Semitism was behind some of the criticism of his £50 million ($70 million) plan.

Previously on Archinect: UK Holocaust memorial plan faces resistance from Royal Parks

Adjaye Assoc...

India's controversial parliament redesign draws increased criticism as country battles new Covid wave

2021-04-27T13:36:00-04:00

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is rebuilding part of New Delhi, but the mammoth undertaking is drawing fire [...] The massive project — which local media have estimated could cost about 200 billion rupees ($2.7 billion) — has grown more controversial as India’s coronavirus cases have exploded. On social media, some questioned the need for spending on new government structures at a time when the nation is dealing with severe fallouts from the pandemic.

As India struggles to contain a new devastating wave of Covid-19 outbreaks throughout the country, opposition is further growing to Prime Minister Modi's controversial redesign plan of the historic Central Vista in the capital Delhi which will include a new parliament building and several government offices. The criticism centers around the project's lack of public consultation and transparency as well as its enormous price tag at a time when the country is facing economic challenges due to the ongoing pandemic.

The undertaking officially launched in December 2020 but was briefly halted (and subsequently approved) by India's Supreme Court shortly after.

Indian firm HCP Design, Planning and Management Ltd. is in charge of the Central Vista urban master plan and architectural design of the parliament building.

India's controversial new parliament building approved by highest court

2021-01-05T14:40:00-05:00

India’s supreme court has given approval for a new parliament building that critics have called an “expensive vanity project” for the prime minister, Narendra Modi. [...] Since the project was announced, it has faced criticism from civil society groups, environmentalists and politicians about its lack of transparency and public consultation and high cost in a time of economic crisis.

The $3 billion parliament plan, a pet project of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reshape the country's capital, was officially launched last December with the ceremonial laying of the foundation stone but immediately halted again by India's Supreme Court due to legal challenges over environmental and land use violations.

The Delhi central vista project has received sharp criticism, mainly over its lack of transparency and financial burden on India's Covid-stricken economy.

Narendra Modi launches controversial effort to redesign India's parliament complex

2020-12-14T15:23:00-05:00

Despite widespread opposition, the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has begun a £2bn overhaul of Delhi's grand complex of government buildings in a bid to sever the nation from its colonial past. At a ceremony held last week, Modi laid the foundation stone for a new building to replace Parliament House, designed by English architects Edward Lutyens and Herbert Baker, which upon its completion in 1927 became the seat of power for British-ruled India.

The ambitious plan by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to overhaul the sprawling complex of historic, colonial-era government buildings in Delhi is off to a rocky start: despite ceremonially laying the foundation stone for a new parliament building on December 10, further spending on the project was blocked by India's Supreme Court within the same week.

Since its official reveal in May, Modi's plan to have the heritage-listed central vista redesigned by architect Bimal Patel has been sharply criticized as an "expensive vanity project," including by Indian-born artist Anish Kapoor. In his Guardian Op-Ed, he writes: "Architecture is an effective propagandist tool. [...] This is not the redesign of buildings, it is instead Modi’s way of placing himself at the centre and cementing his legacy as the maker of a new Hindu India."

The new parliament building is expected to be ready for India's 75th anniversary of independence in 2022.

Norman Foster proposes pop-up UK Parliament building inspired by Crystal Palace

2020-08-24T12:29:00-04:00

Architect Norman Foster is reviving a plan for creating expansive temporary facilities to be used by the parliament of the United Kingdom while the Palace of Westminster undergoes significant restoration.

The £300 million proposal calls for a erecting an amorphous, 151-meter-long glass-wrapped temporary structure in the Horse Guards Parade adjacent to the existing houses of parliament. The four story structure, which would include 650 offices as well as detailed replicas of the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and other significant interior spaces, is designed to be taken down and re-used once the renovations to the historic structure have run their course.

Previously on Archinect: UK Parliament renovations uncover 360-year-old hidden passage. View of the UK Houses of Parliament. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons / Maurice.

Inspired by the Crystal Palace, the temporary Parliament would be topped by a cast iron and plate glass panel dome spanning over an interior roof garden stu...

UK Parliament renovations uncover 360-year-old hidden passage

2020-02-28T12:56:00-05:00

A 360-year-old passageway once used by British monarchs has been rediscovered inside Parliament, revealing a piece of history that was thought to have been permanently covered up after World War II. [...] access to the passage had remained hidden in plain sight for about 70 years.

As the Houses of Parliament in the United Kingdom undergo a $5 billion renovation and restoration project by architecture studio BDP, an archival team has rediscovered a hidden passageway once used by British monarchs, members of Parliament, and dignitaries like Benjamin Franklin that dates to the 17th-century. The passageway, according to the report, was created as a procession route for a coronation banquet for King Charles II and was in use for 150 years for other official events.

The secret passageway was partially hidden and almost totally forgotten following renovations in 1950s. Inside the space, researchers discovered graffiti dating to 1851, when the passageway was first sealed off. The graffiti reads: “This room was enclosed by Tom Porter who was very fond of Ould Ale.”

Norman Foster pushes government to hold architecture competition for a new House of Lords

2020-01-22T13:51:00-05:00

According to Architect's Journal (AJ), in a letter published in The Times, Norman Foster – writing as Lord Foster and president of the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust – said the ‘power of architecture’ should be used ‘to express our political and economic ambitions’. It comes in response to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's desire to move the upper chamber of parliament out of London, reports AJ.

In his letter, Foster wrote: "If we are to build a new House of Lords, we must set our sights every bit as high and produce work that represents the very best that our age can offer. An architectural competition, backed by a clear brief, would be the place to start."

Architects in the UK reconsider their relationship with manufacturers and mass standardization

2019-07-12T13:49:00-04:00

It is now almost 80 years since the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act enabled the construction of the post-war prefab, but controversies and concerns about building a home in a factory have run deep ever since. While practically every other item we buy rolls off a production line, housebuilding’s transition to the factory remains, for many reasons, problematic.

With the rise of automation and advances in building manufacturing, architects have considered if machines can replace the profession. However, makes the job so rewarding is thinking of new and creative ways to execute ideas. This level of creativity and design distinction is something architects argue towards replacement by automation alone. However, in the UK, architects are learning to reassess their relationships with manufacturers and understand the silver lining in mass standardization. In 1944 the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act was passed by the British Parliament as a response to providing families with homes after World War II. Several decades later, the housing market is forcing architects to acquire new perspectives when it comes to manufacturing and how new relationships could foster better results.

According to Josephine Smit of the RIBA Journal, "with a skills shortage, a push from government and impetus from the build to rent sector, manufacturers and offsite s...

Can the government really tell us what's beautiful? The UK government attempts to put beauty first in order to solve building issues

2019-01-28T09:15:00-05:00

The UK government thinks it has got to the heart of the housing crisis: the problem is, new homes just aren’t beautiful enough. “Build beautifully and get permission,” says the housing minister, Kit Malthouse. “Build beautifully and communities will actually welcome developers, rather than drive them out of town at the tip of a pitchfork.”

According to housing minister, Kit Malthouse, the key to solving the housing crisis in the UK is “putting beauty at the heart of our housing and communities policy.” On November 3, 2018, the initiative to champion beauty when building better homes was announced through the "Building Better, Building Beautiful" Commission. What was thought to initiate a progressive interrogation of how beauty within the built environment would solve problems turned into a "parody of Victorian mores" as parliament debated.

Examples of government dabbling in notions of "what is beautiful, progressive, and architecturally mesmerizing" can be found throughout history. Building quality has decreased over time while monopolies over land and project developments have increased. Rightfully addressed by many it's quite easy to use these government initiatives as distractions from the real issues at hand. Although the Guardian article references the housing crisis in the UK, issues of government influence in ...

The stalled refurbishment of The Palace of Westminster

2017-10-02T04:39:00-04:00

The move would raise fascinating questions about the need to replicate habits that are tied to the layout of the current chamber – voting by trooping through “aye” and “no” lobbies, for example. Archaic linguistic protocols might seem doubly peculiar when expressed in a more modern setting. People’s behaviour is shaped by their environment and it is unlikely that parliamentary culture could be unaffected by transplant to a space unlike the unique one in which it has been nurtured.

The Palace of Westminster has been in a state of advanced disrepair for many years now. Though a plan for the building's massive £3.5bn refurbishment headed by BDP was announced last year, the government has avoided taking the decision to proceed.

The main reason for the delay in action on the crumbling Palace is financial. Yet as the the Guardian notes, the spending is necessary and justified since operational facilities are crucial in ensuing "the effective functioning of the democracy" and the structure's heritage value is hard to overestimate. While traditionalists and modernists argue over restoration and the observers contemplate the impact various spaces might have on the functioning of the parliament, prompt relocation might be the best next move since the delay is only driving costs upwards.

The UK parliament to be restored by BDP

2017-07-19T18:06:00-04:00

The full scope of work includes architecture, civil and structural engineering, building services engineering, interior design, landscape architecture, lighting design, acoustics and planning. Since its construction in the mid-1800s, many systems in the palace have never undergone a major renovation, and the heating, ventilation, water, drainage and electrical systems are antiquated.

BDP's London studio beat Allies and Morrison, Foster + Partners and HOK in the competition and has been awarded a full interdisciplinary contract for client advisory services for the refurbishment of the Palace of Westminster, the meeting place for the two houses of the UK parliament.

The firm will be collaborating with heritage and conservation specialist Donald Insall Associates, civil and structural engineer Alan Baxter Associates, building services engineer Hoare Lea and planning consultancy Gerald Eve.

How the design of a parliament building affects the politics that happen inside

2016-09-19T18:56:00-04:00

For the past five years van der Vegt and Max Cohen de Lara, his partner at XML, have studied the halls of parliament of all 193 United Nations member states. In a new book, Parliament, the duo elegantly connects architecture to the political process. All 193 assembly halls fall into one of five organizational layouts: “semicircle,” “horseshoe,” “opposing benches,” “circle,” and “classroom.” And these layouts make a difference.

If you can imagine how debating with someone seated beside you might feel different from arguing with someone standing at a pulpit, you can appreciate the impact.

For more on the intersections of the architectural and the political, follow these links:

With London's Palace of Westminster crumbling, the British government may have to find a new home

2015-03-03T18:02:00-05:00

Let me share a secret with you. Even those who love the Gothic extravagance that is the Victorian Palace of Westminster know that great swaths of it are out of date. [...] In 2015 the urgent question is again what to do about it. [...] options ranging from staggering on as usual with make-do-and-mending to a new 21st-century building on a new site, possibly far from London.

Parliament-themed Austrian Pavilion revealed for 2014 Venice Biennale

2014-03-18T19:39:00-04:00

Power to the people is the driving force behind the Austrian Pavilion for the upcoming 2014 Venice Biennale. The pavilion will include an exhibition that explores the concept of parliament and its architectural influence on the world's more than 200 national parliament monuments.

The pavilion was designed by a collective team including Commissioner Dr. Christian Kühn, Harald Trapp, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Auböck + Kárász Landscape Architects, Kollektiv/Rauschen, and the Vienna University of Technology - Institute of Architecture and Design.

Here's a glimpse of the models in the exhibition:

Find out more on Bustler.

Navarra, Spain Welcomes Redesigned Parliament

2013-03-25T15:48:00-04:00

A previously historic government building has now become the centre of the Parliament of Navarra, Spain. Designed by Otxotorena Arquitectos, the redevelopment project was part of plans to restore the 19th century Audiencia Building of Pamplona. Covering 11,062 square metres, the €9 million redevelopment project has drawn attention for its architectural aesthetics which incorporate a new glass skin into the parliament building.

COOP HIMMELB(L)AU to Design New Albanian Parliament Building

2011-03-30T15:33:00-04:00

COOP HIMMELB(L)AU's entry 'Open Parliament of Albania' in Tirana has won the First Prize. The concept incorporates fundamental democratic values such as openness, transparency and public co-determination. The building, located on a site area with approximately 28,000 m², is going to be the first project in Albania for the Viennese headquartered studio.