Rebuilding the Houses of Parliament: David Boswell Reid and Disruptive Environmentalism

Rebuilding the Houses of Parliament explores the history of the UK Houses of Parliament in Westminster from an environmental design perspective, and the role David Boswell Reid played in the development of the original ventilation and climate control system in parliament.

This book retraces and critically examines the evolution of the environmental principles underlying the design of the Houses of Parliament, engaging with fundamental questions about air quality, energy efficiency and thermal comfort. This yields insights into the historic methods of environmental design that were characterised by physical experimentation and post-occupancy evaluation. Rebuilding the Houses of Parliament examines the history of the buildings’ operation, studying the practical reality of its performance in use and offers the opportunity to reflect on current challenges faced by architects and engineers adapting to the realities of climate change.

This book is an ideal read for academics, politicians and practitioners with an interest in architectural history and heritage, theory, engineering and conservation.

Henrik Schoenefeldt is Professor of Sustainability in Architectural Heritage at the University of Kent in England, National Teaching Fellow and AHRC Leadership Fellow. He trained as an architect and specialised in environmental design with an MPhil and PhD from the University of Cambridge. His main research interest is in historic principles of environmental design, both as field of scholar research and architectural practice.