THE NEW HOUSE OF COMMONS LIGHTING INSTALLATION
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The old House of Commons was destroyed during an air raid in May, 1941. When plans were being prepared for the House, considerable thought was given to the style and char- acter which should be adopted. An opportunity had been created to depart from the form of ar- chitecture of the old building, but the decision was made never- theless to reintroduce the late Gothic style in harmony with the rest of the Palace of West- minster.
Although the new building has been erected on the original site, skilful planning by the architect has resulted in much improve- ment in the amenities, These inclu-le not only the provision of two floors below the Chamber. for the accommodation of min ́s- ters rooms, members lounge, conference and other rooms, but also an additional floor at the top of the new House. Greater accommodation has also been provided by increasing the size of the galleries, and the total seating capacity of the entire Chamber has risen from 802 to 939.
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In designing the new House, the architect has retained the character and dignity of the old House, and at the same time eliminated some of the elaborate ornamentation which was predominant. Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in his report upon the proposed new House of Commons, stated "The Gothic detail of the old Chamber was lifeless and uninteresting, and the rich- ness was spread evenly over the whole area without relief of contrasts. It has been our endeavour to remedy this with the result that, though still Gothic in style. the effect will be entirely different from what existed before.
Every opportunity has been taken to introduce throughout the building the most modern methods for heating, ventilating, lighting and electric ser- vices generally.
The keynote of the lighting through- out the House, and particularly in the Chamber, is the artistic use of modern light sources. The high luminous efficiency and flexibility of colour from these sources has inde possible a full development of the artistic ideas of the architect.
The lighting installation in the new House of Commons, where Members of Parliament will assemble for the first time on October 26th, is an out- standing achievement in the applica- tion of modern illuminating technique to a famous building which designedly retains the traditional atmosphere of its predecesor. This project has been devised and carried out by The Gen- eral Electric Co. Ltd. of England in close collaboration with the Architect, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, O.M., R.A.
The main lighting of the Chamber is entirely by means of Osram fluores- cent lamps, both hot and cold cathode, all of which are controlled by a dim- ming system that enables the illumina- tion to be increased gradually to the level desired so that Members are not disturbed by the sudden switching on of the lamps.
The principal source of lighting in the Chamber is provided by 150 cold. cathode units mounted in the ceiling above a laylight. The five main panels of the daylight are each subdivided into 30 smaller panels, and the whole laylight and its subdivisions is framed in carved oak. A cold cathode unit is mounted behind every ceiling panel. The glazing of the panels is tinted oak colour so that by day the whole roof appears to be of timber, with carved ornamentation.
In order to light the whole roof uniformly and to avoid undue contrast between the central laylight and the sloping sides, five lighting units are mounted on the window sills at each side of the Chamber.
Although light from the ceiling units reaching the back benches under the