The Government of Jamaica, acting through the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, launched an international design competition to design a new parliament building.
Since securing its independence in 1963, the country’s Parliament has been temporarily held at Gordon House in Jamaica's capital city Kingston. The Government of Jamaica envisions a new building that will signify its democracy. All teams were comprised of a registered Jamaican architect, Jamaican’s abroad, and local as well as those of the Jamaican diaspora representing a minimum 50 percent of each team.
Jamaican born Gordon Gill of ASGG served as the competition patron in promoting the design process's transparency. The Urban Development Corporation of Jamaica managed the 2018 competition process, comprised of a distinguished jury of Caribbean design industry leaders. The jury and separately the voting public made final selections and rankings for competitors in this multi-stage process. Our team consisted of four individuals, Evan Williams JIA, a registered Jamaican architect, Daimian S. Hines, AIA, NOMA, Christopher Bent, Assoc AIA, and Gregory Lake, AIA whom reside in Texas. Some 37 proposals were submitted, and five shortlisted. Among the entrants included British architect David Adjaye.
In March of 2018, the Honorable Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced the winning team. As winners of both jury selection and People’s Choice awards, Hines Architecture + Design (design architect) collaborated with Design Collaborative Ltd. (architect of record) to deliver both building design and a comprehensive campus masterplan, final Design, technical documentation, and construction administration services.
The building program is centered on two primary functions. These spaces are the House of Representative and Senate debate chambers. The balance of the program is parliamentary spaces, offices, a museum, a library, and other support amenities. Critical adjacencies drove the program development to support collective user interface spaces and simultaneous segregate government and visitors' processes.
The 52-acre project site program consists of formal and informal access to the parliament building. HINESAD collaborated with OJB Landscape to put forward a vision that was further informed by local stakeholders. The site to the north provides flexible community space for impromptu programming. The site's center consists of a civic plaza with community amphitheaters and a featured water wall to further activate the site. The southern campus contains a formal and historic program. This space includes a renovated shrine area for national heroes and a new and expanded heroes pavilion.
The project site is monumental in the collective history of the island. The site resonates as a reminder of the island's colonial past while now underutilized in a district that experienced an exodus of commerce to New Kingston, the new central business district. The design solution posits a circle building that is legible at both urban and human scale. The site analyst of the oval site, along with the government's planned district redevelopment, coupled with the country's motto "Out of Man, One People," suggested a circular building form that would also present equitable points of view around the Heroes Park oval. The "X" columns, which are the most dominant building feature, represent a departure from the countries' colonial history and notional view that the island's citizens and their elected representatives are inter-connected pillars to the Jamaican parliamentary systems.
Daimian Hines Quote
"In considering the building's materiality, much thought was given to local expertise and what was required to design a long life structure. The material palette was simple, and we found many ways to be expressive within its simplicity."
Materials used:
1. Architectural Precast systems, PCI finishes #109 and 180 with local limestone aggregate at exterior facade and X column precast system.
2. Structural Glass Wall - Sintech Ventra Fin A at Main Lobby
3. Ribbon Windo, Kawneer 1600 system
4. Solances Limestone System at Main Lobby feature wall
5. Neolith Sintered stone system at interior gardens
6. GFRG panel system by Formglas at Monumental Stair
7. Skyline Sky-Lites, Skylight Systems
8. Phenolic wood panel systems by Prodema
9. Composite wood panel system by WoodN
10. Acoustical plaster by Fellert at debate chamber ceilings
