Portcullis House, Westminster
Architect Michael Hopkins and Partners
Engineer Ove Arup & Partners
Client House of Commons, Palace of Westminster
Thehistoryofthesiteforthenew
Parliamentary Building ^ or as it is now called,
Portcullis House ^ goes back several decades;
the architect Michael Hopkins’s involvement
started in 1989 with a space audit of the
accommodation which might be required for
Members of Parliament. It was not until the
interchange for the new Jubilee Line extension
at Westminster Underground was approved,
that this paved the way for a radical new
approach to the site; in which the new
Parliamentary Building was conceived as an
integral planning and structural solution
together with a much enlarged underground
station.
Located in a world heritage site, placed
between Pugin’s Houses of Parliament and
Norman Shaw’s Scotland Yard, the site posed
many problems which required a unique
solution to provide 210 individual offices for
Members of Parliament, with all the associated
ancillary accommodation; together with a
pedestrian connection under Bridge Street to
‘the House’ to enable Members of Parliament
to react swiftly to the division bell.
The daylighting strategy is determined by
the plan, in which the MPs’ offices are
arranged around a hollow rectangular
courtyard, with rooms on four floors for the
MPs, which look outwards or inwards to the
courtyard; rooms have balconies and french
windows with rooms to the outside having
their own bay window.
The public face of the building at street
level presents a colonnade to Bridge Street,
containing shops and the entrance to the
Tube. The main entrance to the building itself
is from the river side, on the Embankment. At
ground level the courtyard has an enclosed
area with a vaulted glazed roof, where MPs
can congregate and meet their constituents.
Two rows of trees create an avenue with a
central water feature, all enlivened by
excellent daylighting.
At the first floor level are housed meeting
rooms and rooms for public select
committees, whilst support facilities are
housed at the lower ground level.
The building is not air conditioned, and the
brief for the building required that the energy
consumption should be only one third of that
for a traditional air-conditioned building. The
section through the window (see fourth plan)
indicates the triple glazed window used for
82 Daylighting: Natural Light in Architecture
Street level plan. Shows central covered courtyard
Michael Hopkins & Ptnrs