During a time of great political divide across the nation and widespread distrust of bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., can architecture offer a practical solution to partisan politics?
Deadlock continues to fester on Capitol Hill. Congress’ approval rating ended the year at a meager 17%, and has hovered below the historic average (31%) since mid-2009. President-elect Donald Trump has stated that he plans to work with those on both sides of the aisle in Congress to accomplish his goals. Observers and experts predict Trump will have a tough go at it, even with a GOP-controlled Congress.
This begs the question, Is the “aisle” part of the problem in Washington? I’m not referring to the metaphorical divide between political parties, rather the physical layout of legislative spaces.
From K-12 schools to offices to universities, building owners across practically every sector are retooling their spaces to meet the needs of today’s innovation economy. Why not legislative spaces?
“In such a tumultuous period, shouldn’t we be questioning whether these spaces are working?” wrote New York Times architecture writer Allison Arieff, in a Nov. 2 opinion piece.
So much has changed in the business of governing—social and mass media, electronic voting, global convenings—yet the vast majority of spaces for political congregation remain virtually untouched, “frozen in time,” wrote Arieff.
She points to a study by Amsterdam-based creative agency XML that breaks down the design of 193 legislative buildings across the world. The most prominent layouts—opposing benches, classroom, and semicircle—were developed 165–215 years ago and remain intact with little modification. When updates are required, governments tend to restore these spaces, rather than rethink the layout.
There are outliers, though, including a meeting hall with zero tables and chairs for the European Union Council in Brussels. The layout, designed by XML and Jurgen Bey, utilizes blocky, interlocking furniture pieces that encourage council members to mingle. Check out XML’s report here.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Balfour Beatty agrees to acquire Parsons Brinckerhoff for $626 million
Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction, investment and services group, has agreed to acquire Parsons Brinckerhoff for $626 million. Balfour Beatty executives believe the merger will be a major step forward in accomplishing a number of Balfour Beatty’s objectives, including establishing a global professional services business of scale, creating a leading position in U.S. civil infrastructure, particularly in the transportation sector, and enhancing its global reach.
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction unemployment rises to 17.1% as another 64,000 construction workers are laid off in September
The national unemployment rate for the construction industry rose to 17.1 percent as another 64,000 construction workers lost their jobs in September, according to an analysis of new employment data released today. With 80 percent of layoffs occurring in nonresidential construction, Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, said the decline in nonresidential construction has eclipsed housing’s problems.
| Aug 11, 2010
Billings at U.S. architecture firms exceeds $40 billion annually
In the three-year period leading up to the current recession, gross billings at U.S. architecture firms increased nearly $16 billion from 2005 and totaled $44.3 billion in 2008. This equates to 54 percent growth over the three-year period with annual growth of about 16 percent. These findings are from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Business of Architecture: AIA Survey Report on Firm Characteristics.
| Aug 11, 2010
Bowdoin College has country's first newly constructed LEED-certified ice arena
Bowdoin College's new Sidney J. Watson Arena, dedicated January 18, 2009, has become the first newly constructed ice arena in the United States to earn coveted LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).
| Aug 11, 2010
CHPS debuts high-performance building products database
The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) made a new tool available to product manufacturers to help customers identify building products that contribute to sustainable, healthy, built environments. The tool is an online, searchable database where manufacturers can list products that have met certain environmental or health standards ranging from recycled content to materials that contribute to improved indoor air quality.
| Aug 11, 2010
VA San Diego Healthcare System Building 1 Seismic Correction
San Diego, Calif.
Three decades after its original construction in the early 1970s, the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System Building 1 fell far short of current seismic codes. This not only put the building and its occupants—patients, doctors, nurses, visitors, and administrative staff—at risk in the event of a major earthquake, it violated a California state mandate requiring all hospitals to either retrofit or rebuild.
| Aug 11, 2010
Green Building Initiative launches two certification programs for green building professionals
The Green Building Initiative® (GBI), one of the nation’s leading green building organizations and exclusive provider of the Green Globes green building certification in the United States, today announced the availability of two new personnel certification programs for green building practitioners: Green Globes Professional (GGP) and Green Globes Assessor (GGA).
