tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/public-buildings-42414/articlesPublic buildings – The Conversation2020-06-05T12:07:47Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1396372020-06-05T12:07:47Z2020-06-05T12:07:47ZWhat goes into the toilet doesn’t always stay there, and other coronavirus risks in public bathrooms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340074/original/file-20200605-176575-1vkew9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C27%2C2570%2C1687&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Public restrooms aren't known for cleanliness to begin with.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/ladies-public-bathroom-victorian-style-royalty-free-image/995263736">Jax10289/istock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most public restrooms are grungy in the best of times. Now, we have the coronavirus risk to contend with, too. There are lots of risks – dirty sinks and door handles, airborne particles and other people in small, enclosed spaces who may or may not be breathing out the coronavirus.</p>
<p>So, how do you stay safe when you’re away from home and you’ve really got to go?</p>
<p>As a medical doctor and epidemiologist, I study infectious diseases involving the gastrointestinal tract. Here are four things to pay attention to when it comes to any public restroom.</p>
<h2>What goes into the toilet doesn’t always stay there</h2>
<p>Have you ever thought about what happens when you flush a toilet?</p>
<p>Scientists who worry about disease transmission in hospitals have, and their findings are worth remembering when you’re in a public restroom.</p>
<p>All that bubbling, swirling and splashing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2013.814911">can aerosolize fecal waste</a>, sending tiny particles airborne. A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s13756-018-0301-9">study on hospital bathrooms</a> found that the amount of those particles spiked after a toilet was flushed, and the concentration in the air remained high 30 minutes later. It didn’t matter if the test was done right next to the toilet or 3 feet away. Second and third flushes continued to spread particles. Another study, published June 16, simulated toilet plumes from flushing and also found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0013318">a large number of particles rose above the toilet seat</a> and lingered in the air. The scientists’ advice: close the lid before flushing.</p>
<p>Researchers have found that the new coronavirus, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-1253(20)30083-2">SARS-CoV-2, can be shed in feces for up to a month</a> after the illness. That’s longer than in respiratory samples, though how much of that time the virus could be causing infections and whether the virus has infected humans through fecal waste <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html">isn’t yet known</a>.</p>
<h2>Surfaces can harbor the virus, so wash up</h2>
<p>The aerosols generated when <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2006874117">someone infected with coronavirus coughs or even talks</a> can be inhaled, of course, but they also settle out on surrounding surfaces, such as bathroom counter tops.</p>
<p>To stay safe, be extra careful and touch as little as possible in public restrooms, including door handles. Whatever you do, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/well/live/coronavirus-spread-transmission-face-touching-hands.html">don’t touch your eyes, nose or mouth</a> after touching these surfaces – your mucous membranes are the coronavirus’s entryway into your body.</p>
<p>When you’re done, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-hand-washing-really-is-as-important-as-doctors-say-132840">thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water</a>, and maybe <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/jam.13014">skip the hot-air hand dryer</a>, which can also create aerosols and blow them toward you.</p>
<p>Carrying face masks, hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes with you can help you be prepared, particularly if the facilities lack soap or running water.</p>
<h2>Enclosed spaces are a problem</h2>
<p>The air in an enclosed space like a public restroom can have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30245-9">coronavirus particles in it for several hours</a> after someone infectious with COVID-19 was there.</p>
<p>Scientists still don’t know how <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-we-do-and-do-not-know-about-covid-19s-infectious-dose-and-viral-load-135991">much of the virus you have to take in</a> to become infected, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Limiting the amount of time spent in any enclosed indoor space – restrooms and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-lower-your-coronavirus-risk-while-eating-out-restaurant-advice-from-an-infectious-disease-expert-138925">restaurants</a> included – can reduce the potential for getting sick from the coronavirus.</p>
<h2>Wear a mask, and walk out if others aren’t</h2>
<p>One of the more insidious characteristics of the new coronavirus is that someone infected with the virus can be spreading it <a href="https://www.nap.edu/read/25774/chapter/1#3">two to three days before they show any symptoms</a>. Some people don’t show symptoms at all, but they can still be infectious for days.</p>
<p>Based on surveillance during the Princess cruise ship outbreak in Yokohama, Japan, <a href="http://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.10.2000180">15 to 20% of the people tested positive</a> for the coronavirus had no symptoms. <a href="http://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.10182">Data from Wuhan, China</a>, put the number of asymptomatic cases at closer to 40%.</p>
<p>Keeping <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiaa189">at least 6 feet away from others</a> and wearing a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0843-2">mask can help you avoid spreading the coronavirus</a> if you’re asymptomatic and don’t realize it. They can also help protect you, though social distancing in small public restrooms isn’t always possible.</p>
<p>If someone else is in the restroom without a mask on, the best advice is to walk out. It isn’t worth the risk. </p>
<p><em>This article was updated June 16 with new research on toilet plumes.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Petri receives funding from the NIH and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.</span></em></p>Public restrooms can be scary when it comes to coronavirus, and they get scarier when you look at how the virus spreads. A doctor explains how to stay safe when you’re traveling and really gotta go.William Petri, Professor of Medicine, University of VirginiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1314232020-02-12T13:15:06Z2020-02-12T13:15:06ZWhy so many architects are angered by ‘Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314550/original/file-20200210-109943-1tsacjq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C17%2C3976%2C2640&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The U.S. Supreme Court building, completed in 1935, is considered a neoclassical masterpiece. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Supreme-Court-Appalachian-Trail-Pipeline/d89d9562c4ef4842b9c5656eb081b0f4/19/0">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Decades of federal architectural policy would be upended if the Trump administration follows through on <a href="https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/14466-will-the-white-house-order-new-federal-architecture-to-be-classical#AIA">an executive order</a> that was leaked to the Architectural Record on Feb. 4.</p>
<p>Titled “<a href="https://architexturez.net/system/files/Draft_of_Trump_White_House_Executive_Order_on_Federal_Buildings.pdf">Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again</a>,” it announces that the classical style of architecture – which refers to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Classical-architecture">architecture inspired</a> by the monumental buildings of ancient Greece and Rome – will be the “preferred and default style” for many federal buildings.</p>
<p>Since then, <a href="https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/14466-will-the-white-house-order-new-federal-architecture-to-be-classical#AIA">the American Institute of Architects</a>, <a href="https://www.sah.org/about-sah/news/sah-news/news-detail/2020/02/06/society-of-architectural-historians-letter-in-opposition-to-proposed-executive-order-making-federal-buildings-beautiful-again">the Society of Architectural Historians</a>, the <a href="https://savingplaces.org/press-center/media-resources/national-trust-opposes-proposed-order-mandating-traditional-architectural-styles">National Trust for Historic Preservation</a>, <a href="https://www.docomomo-us.org/news/response-to-draft-executive-order">Docomomo</a> and <a href="http://architecture-lobby.org/project/t-a-l-statement-on-trumps-executive-order-affecting-federal-architecture/">the Architectural Lobby</a> – among many others – have publicly announced their opposition to the order.</p>
<p><a href="https://soa.cmu.edu/kai-gutschow">As a historian of modern architecture</a>, I share their suspicions. While the executive order certainly aligns with some of the administration’s conservative priorities, I fear that it will ultimately stifle innovation and reverse recent federal support for architectural experimentation.</p>
<h2>What’s in the executive order?</h2>
<p>The order encompasses all federal courthouses and agency headquarters, all federal public buildings in Washington, D.C. and the surrounding area – what’s called the <a href="https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/regions/welcome-to-the-national-capital-region-11/about-the-national-capital-region-ncr">National Capital Region</a> – and all federal public buildings that cost more than US$50 million to build. The order would apply to the design of all new buildings, as well as to all renovations or additions to existing buildings. </p>
<p>It’s meant to overturn the existing “<a href="https://www.gsa.gov/real-estate/design-construction/design-excellence/design-excellence-program/guiding-principles-for-federal-architecture">Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture</a>” issued in 1962 by future Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Rather than dictating a single style, Moynihan’s principles emphasize the importance of diverse “designs that embody the finest contemporary American architectural thought.” </p>
<p>In fact, they specifically suggest that “development of an official style must be avoided. Design must flow from the architectural profession to the government” – which is exactly the opposite of what Trump’s mandate is trying to do.</p>
<p>So who’s behind the executive order?</p>
<p>It was drafted by the <a href="https://www.civicart.org/">National Civic Art Society</a>, a conservative nonprofit that promotes the classical tradition in architecture, urbanism and the arts. The group <a href="https://www.civicart.org/about">considers modernist architecture</a> to be “a failure” and endeavors to “help architecture return to its pre-Modernist roots.” The National Civic Art Society claims all forms of modern architecture “reject traditional standards of beauty and harmony. Indeed, ‘beauty’ is a forbidden word,” and notes that some leading modernist architects were fascists, racists and evinced a “hatred of democracy.”</p>
<h2>‘Classical’ can mean many different things</h2>
<p>Many U.S. government buildings – from <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/the-white-house-washington-d-c-178067">the White House</a> to <a href="https://www.aoc.gov/capitol-buildings/supreme-court-building">the Supreme Court Building</a> – were built in the classical style. According to the executive order, because the style alludes to the architecture of “democratic Athens and republican Rome,” it is able to “physically symbolize” the nation’s self-governing ideals. On the other hand, the order and the NCAS characterize buildings built since 1962 as “undistinguished… uninspiring … and even just plain ugly,” <a href="https://architexturez.net/system/files/Draft_of_Trump_White_House_Executive_Order_on_Federal_Buildings.pdf">citing popular opinion polls as proof</a>.</p>
<p>And yet, critics have been quick to point out that the classical style doesn’t always symbolize democratic ideals of self-governance.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/shortcuts/2020/feb/05/trump-wants-more-neoclassical-buildings-but-dictating-to-architects-has-a-dark-history">Dictators, plutocrats and autocrats</a> have long used the classical style to connect the grandeur of the Roman empire to their own power. <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/hitlers-classical-architect/">Hitler</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalinist_architecture">Stalin</a> and <a href="https://www.citylab.com/design/2012/06/hidden-architecture-pyongyang/2180/">Kim Jong-Il</a> all favored classically inspired buildings.</p>
<p>In the United States, there’s a strong classical tradition in not just the capital but also in the South, where plantation owners were keen to build their mansions in the <a href="https://www.southernliving.com/home/antebellum-architecture-characteristics">neoclassical style</a> – and where this architectural tradition is still alive and well. For example, we see it in buildings like the recently completed Federal Building and Courthouse in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Yet it’s difficult to avoid the fact that many of these neoclassical estates – these purported symbols of democracy – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/26/travel/house-tours-charleston-savannah.html">featured separate quarters for slaves</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314829/original/file-20200211-146674-qlf2e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314829/original/file-20200211-146674-qlf2e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314829/original/file-20200211-146674-qlf2e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314829/original/file-20200211-146674-qlf2e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314829/original/file-20200211-146674-qlf2e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314829/original/file-20200211-146674-qlf2e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314829/original/file-20200211-146674-qlf2e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Federal Building and Courthouse in Tuscaloosa, Alabama was completed in 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.hbra-arch.com/projects/images/governmental_tuscaloosa_01.jpg">HBRA Architects</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Architect Phineas Harper also <a href="https://www.dezeen.com/2020/02/06/making-federal-buildings-beautiful-again-opinion-phineas-harper/">makes a subtle but important point</a> that today’s love of classical and traditional architecture often masks a fondness toward traditional European culture – and, by extension, an aversion to “the other.” He notes that classicism, traditional architecture and anti-modernist rhetoric frequently disguise xenophobic and violent impulses.</p>
<h2>More Obama backlash?</h2>
<p>There could be a more straightforward reason for this executive order, however.</p>
<p>Trump’s order notes that it is simply about reviving the ideals of the Founding Fathers, and it’s clear about its goal to overturn the 1962 guidelines that allowed <a href="https://www.citylab.com/design/2014/07/requiem-for-fbi-hoover-building/375279/">controversial Brutalist structures</a>, such as the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C., to be built.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314529/original/file-20200210-109912-eggi8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314529/original/file-20200210-109912-eggi8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314529/original/file-20200210-109912-eggi8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314529/original/file-20200210-109912-eggi8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314529/original/file-20200210-109912-eggi8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314529/original/file-20200210-109912-eggi8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314529/original/file-20200210-109912-eggi8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The J. Edgar Hoover Building, which houses the headquarters for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was built in the Brutalist style.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-j-edgar-hoover-building-is-a-high-rise-office-building-news-photo/590678349?adppopup=true">Universal History Archive/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But since Trump entered office, he’s sought <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/11/donald-trump-barack-obama-legacy">to undermine, roll back and rewrite the legacy of his predecessor</a>, President Barack Obama. So it’s plausible that the order is a direct reaction to a “<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/obamas-building-boom-will-his-architecture-legacy-be-as-lasting-as-fdrs">building boom</a>” that happened under President Obama and was funded via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. During this period, the Obama administration helped promote a diverse range of innovative and cutting-edge federal buildings, from Kieran Timberlake’s U.S. Embassy in London <a href="http://msmearch.com/type/government-and-civic/united-states-courthouse-austin-texas">to the new U.S. courthouse</a> in Austin, Texas. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314531/original/file-20200210-109939-e1qvd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314531/original/file-20200210-109939-e1qvd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314531/original/file-20200210-109939-e1qvd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314531/original/file-20200210-109939-e1qvd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314531/original/file-20200210-109939-e1qvd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314531/original/file-20200210-109939-e1qvd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314531/original/file-20200210-109939-e1qvd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The U.S. Embassy in London opened in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-new-us-embassy-is-pictured-in-embassy-gardens-in-south-news-photo/894886294?adppopup=true">Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These structures combined provocative design with the latest advancements in security, while incorporating green building systems that reduced energy costs. Together, I believe they project the image of a technologically advanced and enlightened U.S. federal government. </p>
<p>No matter your views on classical architecture, restricting designs to one particular style rejects the diverse tastes and ideals of the American people. Furthermore, this executive order would stifle innovation and progress in the architecture, engineering and construction industry.</p>
<p>Because aesthetics and symbolism are so central to classical architecture, the buildings – almost by definition – are more costly and less energy efficient than so-called “<a href="https://www.nibs.org/page/hpbc">high-performance buildings</a>,” which focus on cost-effectiveness, safety, sustainability and accessibility, in addition to aesthetics. Through organizations such as the <a href="https://www.nibs.org/page/about">National Institute of Building Sciences</a> and their <a href="https://www.wbdg.org/">Whole Building Design Guide</a>, the federal government has, in recent years, been working to produce advanced buildings that set standards for the industry and the world. </p>
<p>For these reasons, the administration’s mandate for classical architecture constrains architecture’s ability to innovate and tackle real world problems.</p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131423/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kai Gutschow does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Federal building guidelines say that ‘development of an official style must be avoided’ – which is exactly what a leaked executive order is trying to do.Kai Gutschow, Associate Professor of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1150502019-04-09T09:06:42Z2019-04-09T09:06:42ZA leaky roof and a democratic crisis within – what better time to get serious about redesigning Westminster?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267949/original/file-20190407-115773-rxdj7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The House of Commons recently <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/04/uk/house-of-commons-water-leak-scli-gbr-intl/index.html">flooded</a>, right in the middle of a debate. As Conservative MP Justine Greening discussed unpaid tax and national insurance, she was interrupted by a cascade of water coming through the ceiling and the sitting was suspended 10 minutes later. </p>
<p>As water poured down through the roof on to the press gallery, it was hard not to make the connection between the broken building and a broken institution. Parliament’s failure to come to a consensus on Brexit has demonstrated that the institution is broken. That is not unrelated to the derelict state of the building itself. This moment offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reconnect a disaffected population with parliament.</p>
<p>The ongoing project to restore the Palace of Westminster could be used to address the longstanding cultural issues within parliament that promote embedded power dynamics and adversarial behaviour.</p>
<p>Brexit has only <a href="https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/foreign-affairs/brexit/news/101346/voters-absolute-despair-about-mps-handling-brexit-new">amplified the public’s disaffection with British politicians</a> which was already considerable after the MPs’ expenses scandal. Children’s author Philip Pullman encapsulated this frustration and disillusionment recently when he tweeted that the whole building should be “exploded” and rebuilt from scratch, adding: “Much of our diseased politics is embodied in that building.”</p>
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<p>By the middle of the next decade part of Pullman’s wish is due to come true. MPs and Lords have agreed to leave the palace entirely so it can be rebuilt in their absence. Much of the essential infrastructure serving the building dates back to the 19th century and passed its expected lifespan decades ago. Indeed, the recent flood came as no surprise: in September 2016 <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/joint-select/joint-committee-on-the-palace-of-westminster/news-parliament-2015/restoration-of-palace-of-westminster-report-published-16-17/">a Joint Select Committee</a> warned that the palace “faces an impending crisis which we cannot responsibly ignore”.</p>
<p>Nor is the risk limited to flooding. There are regular small fires, caused by the outdated infrastructure, which have the potential to turn into major incidents. Wardens <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/14/secret-report-palace-westminster-grave-risk-fire-saftey">patrol the building</a> 24 hours a day to manage the problem. Inside the building asbestos is widespread and outside masonry is crumbling – a “<a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/fallen-angel-causes-alarm-at-crumbling-westminster-3pfh8blc3">football-sized lump</a>” has fallen off a stone angel on the Victoria Tower.</p>
<p>As a Grade I listed building and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the palace cannot be torn down – or “exploded” as Pullman suggested. As for moving elsewhere, a <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/offices/commons/house-of-commons-commission/minutes/commons-commission-bulletins-to-members/bulletin-29-october-2012/">decision</a> was taken in 2012 by the governing bodies of the Commons and Lords that “ruled out the option of constructing a brand new building away from Westminster”. This decision was taken with no public consultation, or consideration of the potential costs or benefits of a new building.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Rain stops play in parliament.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Throughout our research, we’ve spoken to many parliamentarians who are concerned about the restoration project. Current estimates for the project are at least £3.5 billion and possibly much more (the cost estimates date back to 2014, and are expected to increase when a final budget is produced next year). The concern is that it may be difficult to justifying spending billions of taxpayers’ money on politicians, especially at a time of national austerity. But this fear may be unfounded – <a href="https://assets.ctfassets.net/xkbace0jm9pp/1vNBTsOEiYciKEAqWAmEKi/c9cc36b98f60328c0327e313ab37ae0c/Audit_of_political_Engagement_14__2017_.pdf">polling</a> suggests the public is broadly positive about the need to rebuild the palace.</p>
<p>The project is nevertheless dominated by a negative mindset. It is called a “restoration and renewal” programme but it is currently aimed solely at protecting the heritage of the building (the restoration), rather than the prospects of creating a parliament for the 21st century (the renewal). The physical fabric of the building is not currently a welcoming or open space. The programme has focused on repairing the crumbling infrastructure rather than addressing the masculine and adversarial design, which itself fails to promote openness to the public.</p>
<p>The project’s focus on the past may be because there is no clear single vision of what a future parliament should look like: it is a question that cannot be answered without a wide-ranging and imaginative public debate.</p>
<p>There have lately been a few positive steps in this direction. A joint select committee has <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/joint-select/draft-parliamentary-buildings-bill/news/restoration-renewal-report-published-17-19/">recommended that public engagement</a> must be an integral part of the restoration and renewal programme. As the group notes, “the country is evolving and so must the building in which the most important decisions which touch upon every member of the population are made”. Parliament’s handling of Brexit has exasperated and frustrated the public, not least because of confusing parliamentary procedures. The restoration and renewal programme is an opportunity to redesign an institution and open up the processes of parliament to the people it serves.</p>
<p>Before the ill-fated Commons sitting was suspended, and as he struggled to make himself heard over the gushing water, Labour MP Justin Madders suggested the flood offered “<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/04/uk/house-of-commons-water-leak-scli-gbr-intl/index.html">symbolism … about how broken parliament is</a>”. Public engagement is necessary in order to fix a decaying parliament. The restoration and renewal programme is a key opportunity for positive engagement with a democracy that looks to the future instead of the past, encouraging discussions about openness, collaboration and inclusivity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115050/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As MPs flounder over Brexit, rain is leaking into the House of Commons. Was there ever a more fitting time to discuss what this building is for and what it should look like?Alexandra Anderson, Postdoctoral Research Associate - Department of Politics, University of SheffieldAlexandra Meakin, Research Associate, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/893552018-01-05T03:01:28Z2018-01-05T03:01:28ZArchitecture in 2018: Look to the streets, not the sky<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200859/original/file-20180104-26157-pv6mnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In Los Angeles, the architecture firm KTGY is repurposing shipping containers to build a transitional apartment complex for the homeless.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">KTGY</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A decade after the global economic collapse, urban development is booming. </p>
<p>This is good news for architects. Indeed, 2018 promises to be a favorable year for the profession: <a href="http://www.interiordesign.net/projects/14235-10-most-anticipated-new-builds-of-2018/">A spectacular array</a> of sleek museums, posh hotels and some of the world’s tallest towers are slated for completion.</p>
<p><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/12/22/news/economy/us-inequality-worse/index.html">But income inequality is on the rise in the United States</a>, with many city dwellers reaping few benefits from the current economic upturn. </p>
<p>The same could be said for the colossal scale and visual theatrics of high-profile buildings. Residential towers for the super rich <a href="https://www.citylab.com/equity/2015/06/the-big-money-behind-tall-buildings/395690/">are transforming the skylines of cities</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/aug/04/pops-privately-owned-public-space-cities-direct-action">public spaces are increasingly being privatized</a>. As a result, cities are being shaped according to the desires of the elite. </p>
<p>This is particularly troublesome as many cities are also grappling with <a href="http://www.rosalux-nyc.org/austerity-urbanism/">the ongoing politics of austerity</a> – less and less investment in public services, <a href="https://inequality.org/research/infrastructure-is-crucial/">infrastructure</a> and <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/business/metropolis/2017/06/the_rent_crisis_does_not_need_a_national_solution.html">public housing</a>. Yet some architects have dedicated themselves to addressing these very problems.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/smallscalebigchange/about.html">The architecture of social engagement</a> – the idea that buildings should address inequality and improve the lives of all dwellers – first started gaining steam during the Great Recession. It’s important to continue moving this work out from under the shadows of the glossier buildings that tend to receive the most media attention. </p>
<p>Three projects to be built in 2018 – a library in Brooklyn, a low-income housing project in Chicago and transitional housing for the homeless in Los Angeles – demonstrate architecture’s unique power to build, sustain and forge communities. </p>
<h2>Fostering local activism</h2>
<p>In the popular imagination, cities are often associated with their biggest buildings and largest monuments. But the lifeblood of all cities is their small-scale civic buildings and public spaces: libraries, schools, community centers, parks and playgrounds. These places are gathering spaces for residents; they create robust and enduring urban enclaves. </p>
<p>A new building for the branch library in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood – the Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center – exemplifies public architecture’s ability to reflect the concerns of local communities. </p>
<p>A massive oil spill that was discovered in 1978 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/opinion/16Prudhomme.html">wreaked havoc on Newtown Creek</a>, the waterway bordering Greenpoint to the north. Because cleanup efforts are still ongoing, <a href="http://www.newtowncreekalliance.org/history-of-newtown-creek-alliance/">environmental activism</a> remains a defining aspect of the community’s identity.</p>
<p>Given this history, it’s no surprise that issues of environmental justice were important when it came time to rebuilding a larger library in Greenpoint, one of the more widely used branch libraries in the Brooklyn Public Library system.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200509/original/file-20180102-26169-djkg4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200509/original/file-20180102-26169-djkg4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200509/original/file-20180102-26169-djkg4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200509/original/file-20180102-26169-djkg4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200509/original/file-20180102-26169-djkg4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200509/original/file-20180102-26169-djkg4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200509/original/file-20180102-26169-djkg4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200509/original/file-20180102-26169-djkg4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A rendering of the Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marble Fairbanks</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Designed by the architecture firm Marble Fairbanks, the two-story building has all the features of a traditional library, from book stacks to reading rooms. But there are also meeting spaces being built for the expressed use of community activists and environmentalists, as well as an education center for environmental awareness – nods to the neighborhood’s history of environmental activism.</p>
<p>It’s also being built according to the highest standards of green design, with plans to reduce the building’s air pollution, energy and water use. The building’s two green roofs, in addition to its public plaza, will be planted with species native to the region.</p>
<p>A grant from the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund, created through a settlement with Exxon Mobil over the spill, <a href="https://www.bklynlibrary.org/locations/greenpoint/reconstruct">even paid for part of the new project</a>. Collectively, the library’s design shows how at the local level, environmental justice and social justice are intertwined.</p>
<h2>Beating back the tides of gentrification</h2>
<p>The same could be said of an affordable housing project being built in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago’s West Side. As important as public places, affordable housing helps create equitable and accessible cities. Dubbed Tierra Linda, the project is the result of Landon Bone Baker Architects’ ongoing work with the community-based organization Latin United Community Housing Association.</p>
<p>When it’s completed, Tierra Linda will have created 12 small-scale housing projects scattered throughout the neighborhood. Most will be located on lots that were formerly vacant. While all of the buildings plan to incorporate sustainable design practices, one of them will be Chicago’s first affordable, multifamily <a href="http://www.phius.org/alliance/home">passive house</a>, which means that it’s designed to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/business/energy-environment/26smart.html?_r=1&ref=earth&pagewanted=all">dramatically reduce energy use for heating and cooling</a>. </p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A rendering of Tierra Linda in Chicago, Ill.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Landon Bone Baker Architects</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These affordable homes are part of a broader effort to maintain the vitality of the neighborhood’s Latino community, which, in recent years, has been threatened by gentrification. <a href="https://www.bloomingdaletrail.org">The Bloomingdale Trail</a> – an elevated greenway running though Chicago’s Northwest Side – has caused real estate prices <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-606-trail-gentrification-affordable-housing-edit-20170320-story.html">to rise in the area</a>. </p>
<p>By collaborating with the community as part of the design process, Landon Bone Baker Architects’ work in Humboldt Park underscores how neighborhood-focused projects can help sustain communities facing economic and social change. </p>
<h2>A shipping container as a home?</h2>
<p>Affordable housing also has the capacity to build new communities. In Los Angeles’ Westlake neighborhood, the architecture firm KTGY is building Hope on Alvarado, a transitional apartment building for the homeless. (Hope on Alvarado is one of a number of similar housing projects in Los Angeles planned by developer Aedis Real Estate Group.)</p>
<p>The project, which is being privately funded, will address a crisis head on: Last year, California had the largest homeless population <a href="https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2017-AHAR-Part-1.pdf">in the country</a>, with Los Angeles County experiencing <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-homeless-count-20170530-story.html">an especially dramatic rise</a> in its numbers of homeless people. </p>
<p>KTGY has plans to use recycled metal shipping containers as the primary units for what will be a five-story building organized around a central courtyard. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200763/original/file-20180103-26163-wctc3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200763/original/file-20180103-26163-wctc3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200763/original/file-20180103-26163-wctc3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200763/original/file-20180103-26163-wctc3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200763/original/file-20180103-26163-wctc3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200763/original/file-20180103-26163-wctc3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200763/original/file-20180103-26163-wctc3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200763/original/file-20180103-26163-wctc3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A rendering of the interior of a unit in the Hope on Alvarado Housing Project in Los Angeles, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">KTGY</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s certainly an innovative approach, since the use of prefabricated containers allows for quick and cheap construction – necessary, given the dire state of homelessness in Los Angeles. At the same time, it’s not hard to see how the building could create a safe and supportive community for its future residents. </p>
<h2>Cities for everyone</h2>
<p>Looking at how everyday buildings can strengthen communities and invigorate urban life is becoming increasingly important. Currently <a href="http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/population/world-urbanization-prospects-2014.html">over half of the world’s population lives in cities</a>, and urban populations are only expected to grow. Meanwhile, natural and man-made disasters are wreaking havoc on cities around the globe, another trend that promises to continue. </p>
<p>With these challenges in mind, the smaller buildings highlighted in this article can help us understand architecture as a social art – a means to weave an urban fabric that creates lasting social ties. They offer models for thinking about architectural design as a tool that addresses the needs of individual communities – lessons that cannot be learned from the slicker buildings that so often compete for our attention. </p>
<p>After all, museums, hotels and towers do not alone make cities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89355/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Weiss does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Three innovative projects set to be completed this year are geared toward strengthening communities that have been left out of the economic recovery.Sean Weiss, Assistant Professor of Architecture, City College of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/831162017-08-28T23:00:19Z2017-08-28T23:00:19ZInstead of renaming buildings, why not truly improve Indigenous lives?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183623/original/file-20170828-1604-14xj4aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The federal government is renaming the Langevin Block building on Parliament Hill out of respect for Indigenous peoples.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I grew up on Maitland Street in London, Ont., named for Peregrine Maitland, lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada in the 1820s – a resolutely conservative leader who opposed democratic reform.</p>
<p>My grandmother had a house on Simcoe Street, named after the first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, who created the clergy reserves, substantial tracts of land assigned exclusively to the Church of England. </p>
<p>These and other officials owed their allegiance and positions to the British Crown, which <a href="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/slavery-abolition-act-1833/">did not abolish the slave trade in British North America</a> until 1834. </p>
<p>An argument could be made that all streets, institutions or monuments recognizing such officials should be renamed because whatever else they contributed to the development of Canada, they were proponents of elitism, imperialism, racism, militarism and sexism. </p>
<p>Even social justice icons such as <a href="http://nationalpost.com/opinion/wayne-k-spear-how-j-s-woodsworth-opposed-the-war-and-saved-capitalism">J.S. Woodsworth</a>, the first leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) – predecessor of the New Democratic Party – wouldn’t escape such critical scrutiny. He was the author of <em>Strangers Within Our Gates</em>, a 1909 book that demeaned immigrants as well as “the Negro and the Indian.” </p>
<h2>Intensely political</h2>
<p>Make no mistake: The naming of buildings and memorials is an intensely political process, and there is nothing especially sacred about it. </p>
<p>Such decisions arise from successful lobbying by supporters, or in the case of removing names from buildings and memorials, successful lobbying by opponents of historical individuals, most of whom reflected the times in which they lived. </p>
<p>As a longtime historian and author of <em>The Promise of Schooling: Education in Canada, 1800-1914</em>, I contend that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s <a href="http://www.macleans.ca/politics/trudeau-renames-langevin-block/">renaming of the Langevin Block</a> in Ottawa earlier this year has unwittingly unleashed a political movement that will be difficult to rein in. </p>
<p><a href="http://activehistory.ca/2017/06/langevin/">Historians have already noted</a> that Hector-Louis Langevin was not personally responsible for creating residential schools. So Trudeau has essentially invited a campaign against the person who was in fact responsible: Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister. </p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sir John A. Macdonald is shown in an undated photo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/National Archives of Canada</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario has taken up this invitation. <a href="http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ontario-elementary-teachers-union-calls-for-renaming-john-a-macdonald-schools">They want all John A. Macdonald schools</a> in the province to be renamed. </p>
<p>That’s a genie that’s going to be difficult to return to its bottle for the prime minister.</p>
<p>On the one hand, the political motivation behind the campaign is admirable and useful. It heightens awareness and sustains public discussion about Canada’s abominable historical treatment of Indigenous peoples. </p>
<p>On the other hand, it generates enormous practical and moral problems.</p>
<h2>Thousands of renamings?</h2>
<p>Given the prejudices and questionable actions of historical figures who have been memorialized, literally thousands of renaming exercises will be required, a divisive process that could consume the energies and resources of communities everywhere. </p>
<p>And unless we choose to avoid names altogether and simply number our schools and streets, there is no guarantee, as we have seen, that the reputations of those we do honour will endure untarnished. </p>
<p>More important than any of this is the fact that name-changing alone improves no one’s life in Canada on any significant scale. It’s a symbolic gesture that inspires headlines and rhetoric but ignores the real issues.</p>
<p>In that spirit, let’s pour our time and money into <a href="https://www.ecojustice.ca/drinking-water-crisis-first-nations-communities-violates-human-rights/">supplying drinkable water</a> to those living on First Nations land and <a href="http://homelesshub.ca/resource/engaging-urban-aboriginal-population-low-cost-housing-initiatives-lessons-winnipeg">decent, affordable housing</a> to those in cities. </p>
<p>Let’s seriously address Indigenous poverty and unemployment, and improve First Nations’ <a href="http://leaderpost.com/opinion/columnists/canada-150-and-indigenous-post-secondary-education">access to post-secondary education.</a> </p>
<p>Schools and universities should also deepen their students’ knowledge of Indigenous societies, beyond the superficial and symbolic. </p>
<p>Let’s confront inequity in all of our institutions and invest less time in the dubious and exhausting process of renaming them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83116/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Axelrod does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Langevin Block on Parliament Hill is being renamed out of respect for Indigenous people. But instead of renaming buildings, let’s offer meaningful change to the Indigenous.Paul Axelrod, Professor Emeritus, Education and History, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.