Architectural Pedagogy

Article in the 2016 End of Year Catalogue, University of Kent School of Architecture. It discusses new module in Architectural Education that Henrik Schoenefeldt has developed and implemented over the past two years. It is designed for architecture students at masters level to acquire a deeper knowledge of the theory and practice of architectural education. It equips future architects with the skills required to become teachers alongside being practicing architects

Should MPs be involved in Westminster's restoration? Yes, according to history

The Palace of Westminster Restoration and Renewal Programme is faced with a fundamental question: how can the Houses of Parliament, a purpose-built building from the mid-nineteenth century, be transformed to meet modern standards? Henrik Schoenefeldt writes that, although requirements have changed, history offers an opportunity to reflect on how politicians were previously involved in the design of Parliament

Delivery of occupant satisfaction in the House of Commons, 1950-2019

Abstract: The debating chamber of the House of Commons was rebuilt and completed in 1950. It has acted as a learning laboratory for 70 years for occupant satisfaction. Although trials and experiments were undertaken to assess and refine its design empirically, under real-life conditions it did not perform as the design consultants had envisaged. The present study of its history between 1950 and 1954 illustrates that its performance was scrutinized by users, became the subject of scientific investigations, and underwent physical and operational changes. These critical engagements with performance in use are ongoing. Archival research and interviews are also presented covering 1995 - 2019. This reveals the socio-technical nature of day-to-day operational procedures, involving collaboration between users and staff as well as between technical and non-technical staff. This process enabled a strong engagement with technical, environmental and human aspects of performance. This not only yielding insights into the practical reality of building operation, but also illustrated a process of continual learning and active stewardship. Practice Relevance: The post-occupancy history of the House of Commons provides a unique case study on continual institutional learning about environmental control in public buildings. It sheds critical light on the nature of facilities management (FM) as a practice, and also challenges the traditional boundaries drawn between those responsible for the design, post-occupancy evaluation and routine operation of buildings. FM could not be confined to the technological operations administered by technical staff, but depended on collaboration with occupants and non-technical staff, enabling the integration of social and technological processes. Much understanding was based on ephemeral knowledge that staff had acquired through social interactions and practical experience. This paper illustrates how such practical knowledge of performance was acquired, retained and utilised in FM practice. This expanded approach is also critical for design consultants to gain more appropriate knowledge about the actual use and performance of buildings

The Lost (First) Chamber of the House of Commons

The articles retraces the development of the first ventilation system in the British House of Commons, which was designed by the physician David Boswell Reid between 1847 and 1852. This was only operational for two years, before it was decommissioned and replaced with a new system. Reid, who was referred to as the 'ventilator' of the Houses of Parliament, worked closely with Barry's team of architects and civil engineers to apply his system to architectural plans that had been developed before his employment in Westminster. Various scholars have argued that Reid's limited technical knowledge and skills was a barrier to his ability to successfully collaborate with architects and engineers. He was trained as a physician not as an engineer or architect. This critique, however, detracts from the significant influence that his distinctive scientific and medical background had on the unique concept behind the ventilation system or the empirical working methods used in its development. In this articles the original letters and drawings used in the communication between the two offices are used to show that Reid's contribution lies primarily in the development of the design of concept, underpinned by experiments inside temporary structures in Edinburgh and Westminster. In several textbooks Reid illustrates the science behind the natural movement of air induced by atmospheric pressure, gravity or thermal buoyancy, and also how it can be studied experimentally in the laboratory or applied in the context of ventilation. Moreover, he used research methods originating in the fields of chemistry and medicine to evaluate the performance of environmental technologies from the perspective of human physiology and perception. Reid's approach was distinctive through its focus on the human and environmental rather than the technical aspects, but Reid relied on engineers to fully develop his concepts. The drawings that Reid submitted to Barry's team were schematic, and the engineers in Barry's office fully developed his ideas on a technical level. This included the production of technical details and their incorporation into the working drawings. Reid provided skills and perspectives that were different from both engineers and architects and the challenge was the successful integration of different bodies of knowledge and sets of skills into architectural design process. His skills and perspective resembles more closely that of the modern environmental design consultant than that of building services engineers with their strong mechanical engineering focus. The design of the Palace of Westminster was cross-disciplinary endeavour which required a fundamental understanding of the role of each specialist discipline involved

The Houses of Parliament and Reid's Inquiries into User Perception

This paper provides a brief overview of the role of user perception in the development of Reid ventilation system for the Palace of Westminster. User-perception was used as a performance indicator in the day-to-day management of the ventilation, but also it was also a major design factor underlying the development of the ventilation system for the Permanent Houses of Commons

Historic research as an applied science

A collaborative project at the Palace of Westminster shows how academic research can provide a better understanding of environmental technology in historic building

Historic research as an applied science

A collaborative project at the Palace of Westminster shows how academic research can provide a better understanding of environmental technology in historic building

Reid's Short-lived ventilation system for the Permanent House of Commons

The Scottish physician David Boswell Reid was responsible for developing the ventilation of the British Houses of Parliament over a period of 17 years. Following the testing of his concept for a stack-driven ventilation system in a model debating chamber erected in Edinburgh and the two debating chambers of the Temporary Houses of Parliament  in Westminster, he had developed a master plan for the ventilation of the whole Palace. This master plan was abandoned in 1846 but Reid was able to implemented his original concept within the  Permanent House of Commons. His design for Permanent House had only been in use from February 1852 till Spring 1854, after which it was superseded by a different system by the physician and engineer Goldsworthy Gurney.  Previous studies on the history of the Palace, such as Cooke (1987), Riding(2000) Collins (1998), Port(1976) and Hitchcock(1955),  have provided a general overview of the development of the ventilation system, but do not explore Reid's design and the underlying design objectives in any detail, let alone how it was influenced by findings of his earlier experiments. Archival research undertaken by the author has revealed that the system implemented by Reid in the Permanent Houses of Commons was different from those tested earlier in Temporary Houses of Commons (1836-51) and Lords (1838-47) or the new system with which it was replace in 1854. It comprised a more sophisticated system, which was developed to overcome the limitations of the simpler stack systems tested in the Temporary Houses of Parliament. It was designed, among others, to respond more effectively to varying attendance levels or changes in the weather and to improve user- satisfaction through personalised climatic control at bench level. This is the first study to reconstruct the design and analyse the performance of Reid's original ventilation system in the Permanent House of Commons. Historian of environmental design, including  Hawkes (2012), Bruceman (1977), Bruegmann (1978), Sturrock (2006), have not given specific attention to Reid's design for the Permanent House. Rather they have focused primarily on the general principles. The  first part of this paper comprises a detailed reconstruction of the original system based on original  archival material, which included developmental  sketches, architectural drawings, correspondence and oral accounts. Orthographic drawings and three-dimensional visualizations were produced to illustrate the historic system. This is followed by a study of the control and monitoring procedures used in the day-to-day management of the ventilation, with a particular focus on the integration of measurements, observation and user-feedback into a formal environmental monitoring strategy. The performance of the system was analysed using original measured data and observational notes in the attendants original log-books, eyewitness accounts and reports on various scientific experiments conducted inside the chamber. Measurements of the  air temperature inside the debating chamber were systematically recorded between 1852 and 1854. These sources yielded critical insights into the how the system had performed under a wide range of conditions and illustrate the various measures taken to optimise its performance from the point of thermal comfort and air quality. The post-occupancy history illuminates that the system was largely abandoned largely due to difficulties with manually implementing the complex control and monitoring procedure

The Historic Ventilation System of the House of Commons, 1840-52: revisiting David Boswell Reid’s environmental legacy

For twelve years the physician David Boswell Reid was involved in developing the ventilation system for the New Palace of Westminster. Starting in 1840 he produced plans for a centralized stack system serving the whole Palace, which included proposals for a sophisticated climatic control strategy for the House of Commons and Lords. These plans were never completed. They were abandoned in 1846 and his responsibility for the ventilation was confined to the House of Commons. Various scholars acknowledge Reid’s role as the ventilator, but his actual contribution to design of the Palaces ventilation system has remained unexplored. Neither his original proposal nor his final design for the Commons has been studied in any depth before. Using the original archival material this articles retraces the evolution of Reid’s plans and reconstructs his early proposal and final scheme for the House of Commons. These schemes were illustrated by the author in a series of drawings. Examining Reid’s scientific working methods, this article also explores how the Temporary Houses of Commons(1836-51) and Temporary House of Lords(1838-47) were used to test and refine his concepts before their application to the actual Palace. The final section investigates how the performance of the Permanent House of Commons was evaluated by scientists and the MPs themselves, providing insights into the technical and human factors that contributed to Reid’s system being replaced after only two years