Building as Service: people, politics, and governance

The fact that buildings are so strongly associated with various power holding empires, nation-states and other forms of civilization is widely recognized in the study of both the history of people and their buildings. From Pericles’s Acropolis to Niemeyer’s Brasilia, architecture has long been associated with political figures and institutions. Buildings such as the British Parliament, the Russian Kremlin, and the U.S. Capitol stand out not just as iconic architecture, but also as representative of the politics, institutions, and culture of the nation. The connection between architecture and politics is evident, yet precisely how are political concepts captured in the form and function of buildings?

A strong link between the buildings and the political philosophies of a nation-state or other ruling body is the building’s use. We know that buildings serve the establishment and maintenance of a governing body, but do they contribute to maintaining a particular ideological belief system?…