Parliament House, Singapore

Parliament House
Dewan Parlimen  (Malay) 国会大厦 (Chinese) நாடாளுமன்ற மாளிகை (Tamil)
Parliament House in 2002
General information
Type	Government building
Location	Singapore
Construction started	1995
Completed	1999
Cost	S$115.2 million
Client	Government of Singapore
Design and construction
Architect	Urban Redevelopment Authority CPG Corporation
Structural engineer	Urban Redevelopment Authority CPG Corporation
Website
Official website

The Parliament House of Singapore is a public building and cultural landmark and houses the Parliament of Singapore. It is located in the Civic District of the Downtown Core within the Central Area. Within its vicinity is Raffles Place, which lies across it from the Singapore River, and the Supreme Court's building across the road. The building was designed to represent a contemporary architectural expression of stateliness and authority. The prism-shaped top, designed by former president Ong Teng Cheong, was similarly a modernist take on the traditional dome.

The space constraints faced by the Old Parliament House were felt since the early 1980s, when the members of parliament grew from 51 in 1963 to 75 in 1983, a point made by then Leader of the House, Edmund William Barker during a parliamentary debate on 16 March 1983. The old building had been renovated several times to accommodate the demand for space, but there was a limit as to how much the building could be widened without disrupting the Chamber's configuration and causing discomfort to its members. The debate concluded in 1989, when the First Deputy Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong proposed the idea to build a new parliament house.

The project started in earnest in May 1989, when a project team was formed to design and build the new house. Headed by Liu Thai Ker, CEO and Chief Planner of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), it comprised architects and engineers from the URA and the Public Works Department (PWD). Various designs were put forth by PWD architects for the new site next to the existing parliament house, led by PWD Director Chua Hua Meng and Deputy Director Lee Kut Cheung.