Building Places

Building Places

In 1943, after the destruction of the Commons Chamber in London during the Blitz, Parliament debated rebuilding the chamber but could not at first decide on its shape - austere and rectangular or inviting and semi-round. The vote for austere and rectangular won and Winston Churchill is quoted as saying during the debate that “we shape our buildings; and thereafter they shape us.” In this context he was referring to the need to uphold and maintain the two party system within Parliament, but for architects it is a bold and clarifying reflection of the need to consider the effects of our architecture not just on a site, but on the larger context of society as a whole. Architects design buildings and those buildings in turn work to design society.