Bartlett Research into the Architecture of Power Wins European Voices Award

The award, which was given as part of UCL’s Grand Challenges of Cultural Understanding (GCCU), will support Sophia and Claudia in their research project, National Parliament Buildings: The Architecture of Power, Accountability and Democracy in Europe.

“Parliament buildings are the symbols and instruments of political life. They shape political culture and the space where the government is held to account and so their architecture, history and rituals say a lot about norms of governance and behaviour. With the wide adoption of television coverage and social media, these buildings project political culture outward, changing the scale and speed of communication between citizens and the parliament. 

– European Voices Research Proposal, Sophia Psarra and Claudia Sternberg

The GCCU seeks to ensure cultural interaction and diversity, with the European Voices initiative, supporting research into individual voices and multicultural perspectives included under the term ‘European’. Sophia and Claudia’s research will ask various questions of European parliament buildings, including:

• How do parliament buildings shape the nations’ concept of their political self? 
• How do their real and broadcasted spaces affect political practices, ideologies and consciousness? 
• How do spaces, narratives, ceremonies and insignia shape identity, democracy and citizen participation? 

Research collaborators:
Professor Sophia Psarra, The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
Dr Claudia Sternberg, UCL European Institute
Dr Uta Steigger, UCL European Institute
Graham Riach, University of Oxford 
Dr Mariana Pestana, Architect and Curator

More information

• UCL’s Grand Challenges of Cultural Understanding

Image: General view of the interior of The Commons Chamber at the Houses of Parliament in central London. Photograph by Justin Tallis.