1. The Making of PNG House of Parliament
By: GERALDINE KALABAI
THE ParliamentHouse isthe House where all the decision making of a Country is made. For Papua New
Guineathe makingof our ParliamentHouse wasalengthyprocessof designing, surveying, architecture
work and planning. For a building project that size, there were stages that had to be completed to
ensure thatthe job wasthoroughlythoughtoutand documented. The start of the design begun with a
nine memberteam,ParliamentaryDesignCommittee, whichcomprised of (then);Speakerof the House,
Mr. Holloway; Mr. Naipuri Maina (Western Regional); Mr. Martin ToVadek (Gazelle); The Professor of
Architecture at the University of Technology, Pro N. Quarry; The Assistant Director of Architecture for
the Public Works Department, Mr. C. Hogan; two members of the House staff, Mr. A. F. Elly and Mr. M.
Yere and a representative from the Creative Arts Centre, Either Mr. T. Craig or Mr. S. Jawa. The
Committee coordinator was Mr. Martin Fowler; he was a special projects architect with the Public
Works Department. Sir,Michael Somare atthe time was the Chief Minister, said that they would stress
on the participationof PapuaNewGuineansthrough the use of the National Public Works Department
and the inclusionof graduatesfromthe Universityof Technology and also suggestions from the public.
There were about seven stages for the construction of the new Parliament House.
Stage 1 was the productionof the brief.Thatinvolvedthe collectionof dataonthe existingfacilities and
operation on the House of Assembly, data on the site and the requirements for a new building. There
were twostagesthat the brief was formulated in. The first was a preliminary brief, which was done by
mid-September 1975 then the detailed brief followed by in mid December 1975. Stage two was the
productionof a specificbrief,more specificallyoutliningspaces required and the relationship between
them, the materials to be used, and aesthetic and functional constraints. Stage three was when the
sketcheswere preparedandthe specificbrief wasre-assessed. The fought stage was the development
in detail of one of the proposed sketches and presentation drawings, models etc were prepared for
more accurate costing and final approval. Stage five was the documentation of all aspects of
construction. Stage seven was the construction and supervision of the building operation, which now
stands between the Independence Hill and the Supreme Court in Waigani.
Insert: Over View of the National Parliament

2. Above: Front View of the National Parliament
The Final design of the Parliament House was a team effort somewhat in a sense that large traditional
PNG buildingsare a communityeffort. And there was maximum PNG contributions involved as well as
the use of resources of the country. This covered a wide field, including building materials, artistic
content, aesthetics, structural and planning principles, furnishing and landscaping. Much of these is
displayedintraditional form,inabuildingas technicallycomplex as a parliament, there had to be more
that had to be contemporary. That was where PNG decisions were important as a step to developing
contemporary approach to building while recognizing the traditions from which this must evolve.
ENDS……..///…….