Parliament House, Singapore

Parliament House
Parliament House
Chinese name
Hanyu Pinyin	Guóhuì dàshà

Parliament House
Parliament House
Dewan Parlimen ( Public Works Department of Singapore
Website
	Official website

Malay nameMalayDewan ParlimenTamil nameTamil

நாடாளுமன்ற மாளிகை

The Parliament House is a public building and a cultural landmark in

Supreme Court's building across the road. The building was designed to represent a contemporary architectural expression of stateliness and authority. The prism-shaped top, designed by President Ong Teng Cheong

Planning and construction

The space constraints faced by the

First Deputy Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong

proposed the idea to build a new parliament house.

The project started in earnest in May 1989, when a project team was formed to design and build the new house. Headed by

Public Works Department (PWD). Various designs were put forth by PWD architects for the new site next to the existing parliament house, led by PWD Director Chua Hua Meng and Deputy Director Lee Kut Cheung

.

In 1992, the project was approved by the

Speaker of Parliament Tan Soo Khoon, and with Wong Kan Seng, Lee Boon Yang, and Lim Hng Kiang as its members. Tasked to liaise with architects in the planning and construction of the building, the committee members also went on two overseas study missions to gather ideas to be incorporated into the building's design. The first trip was made to Australia, where visits were made to the newly built Parliament House in Canberra. Here, extensive attention was paid to public education of the parliamentary system in the form of galleries, moot parliaments. A second visit was made to Europe

, to incorporate contrasting older, traditional ideas into the building's design.

With these ideas incorporated, the new building's concept plan was approved by the

Tan Chee Wee

, and was completed in July 1999 at a cost of S$115.2 million.

On 6 September 1999, the

foyer, where a stainless steel

plaque was unveiled before 100 MPs and invited guests.

Architecture

The new Parliament House was designed by the

members of parliament

(MPs), as well as a place of interest for students and the general public.

Due to its setting in the richly historical area, the building's overall design harks back to its more historical neighbours with its

slate grey external colour scheme and liberal use of accentuated columns reflective of the colonnade design common in classical architecture

.

The main entrance from

timber atrium

, seen from the outside as the building's signature prism-shaped pinnacle.

With 100 seats and room for 20 more, the new Chamber features contemporary IT features like an electronic voting system, an integrated congress system, IT terminals and so on. Generous space is devoted to the Strangers' Gallery and the Press Gallery, allowing for more members of the public to observe proceedings. In addition, a new sound-proofed Educational Gallery was built on the top floor of the chamber allowing for staff and teachers to verbally explain live parliamentary proceedings to students, as well as a moot parliament, history corner, and multimedia information kiosks to provide a full educational programme, as is the case in the Parliament House in Canberra.

Also part of the new building are a 170-seat auditorium, a library, range of meeting and IT rooms and media facilities, a dining room, a 100-seat public cafeteria and even a gymnasium. Car parking is available below ground, leaving much valuable space above to include lush landscaping and a 2,770 square metre garden.

Gallery

References

Tan, Sumiko (2000) The Singapore Parliament: The House We Built Times Media,
ISBN 981-232-144-6

Planning and construction

Architecture

Gallery

References

External links