Architectural Project

Parliamentary buildings are always meant to attract different people meaning that the grander the structure, the stronger the public and national interest and reaction to them.  These buildings normally reflect the tradition and stability showing that they portray the image or the commanding presence of the state (Daniel, 1995).

The parliamentary buildings are also known to provide ideals of national identity and pride of a given state showing its strength.  Splendor and command, even majesty is always shown in the grandest of parliamentary buildings especially those in America in the nineteenth century.

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The Norman Foster New German parliament is a project of architecture since it has developed after destruction of many parliamentary buildings.  Attention was first devoted to German development, both in regard to the Bundestag building in Berlin (Michael, 1998).

The Reichstag building is historical known for its richness in sensitive historical and political associations.   These buildings have raised some questions of national symbols, questions of the European traditions and democratic aspiration of the newly reunited Germany.

This why there has been debates on whether the new parliament building is something to do with politics or architecture.  But in the real sense it is believed to be an architectural project following the changes that have been experienced in the field of architecture since early ages in the building and rebuilding of the parliament. (Dieter, 2003).

Early architectural changes began from year 1949 – 1971 following reunification of Germany.  They started rebuilding projects and expanding the parliament in Bonn.  Architectural changes were undertaken from 1949 by a leading architect of the day by the name Haris Schwippert. He laid down a new chamber for the Bundestag which was completed for a short while.

The project was made up of glass showing that they were a trademark of German post-war architectural style.  Several small developments existed to the parliament buildings site by 1969 when a large multi-storey building was erected to accommodate members and other services.  The building consisted of 30 storeys and was a notable landmark in Bonn region since it could be seen from Rhine.

Towards the end of 1969 the federal cabinet ordered a stop to the adhoc building programs of the government in Bonn (Stephen, 2005).  The cabinet then formed a commission to look at a wider town planning implications of government office and parliamentary accommodation.

Restructuring of the town and new buildings was an architectural concern in the country.  The parliament new building was to contain office blocks for government, child care facilities, an international conference center, new buildings for Bundestage, and the bundestrat and finally a hotel with apartment.

All these led to a lot of complications and confusions.  This forced the different architectural firms to do some projects in collaboration with other firms. This led to further development in the redesigning of the Bonn parliamentary building from 1971 – 1992. (Foster, 2000).

The architectural firms made a lot of restructural challenges, arrangements and consultation with the concerned citizens.  The revised plan was then announced or declared in the December 1978.  Further architectural competitions were experienced by this time.

In1983 another complication emerged when it was found out that the fabric of the main chamber (plenarsaal) was seriously impaired. This required the parliament building to be demolished as it could not be re-built a according to the architectural findings. Various experts were called for advice and in the upshot it emerged that preservation of the existing building in its framework would greatly increase expenditure because of its unsuitable nature.

The decision to build new parliamentary building was finally made after along discussion that did not want the building to be demolished.  Many stakeholders wanted the only affected chamber to be rebuilt (Corola, 2004).  However the demolition of the new chamber succeeded since the state government had limited power to intervene in matters affecting the federal parliament.

The rebuilding of the chamber included other ancillary facilities adjacent to it meaning that the project was expected to be wider than just the chamber it self. (Jaeger, 1999).

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