Controversial Welsh Assembly by Richard Rogers

Controversial Welsh Assembly by Richard Rogers
Wales parliamentary building is nearing completion alongside the red-brick, Frenchified Gothic Pier Head building designed by William Frame in 1897, when Cardiff was one of the world's greatest exporters of coal.

Much has changed in Cardiff and its old coal docks since then.

Today, this is Cardiff Bay, home of fashionable new flats and business-park style offices, a showcase hotel with a vertiginous atrium, and a curate's egg of cultural monuments.

The one building that has been missing, and which for many years was nothing more than a huge hole in the ground, is the National Assembly for Wales, the anchor of this ambitious waterside development.

The air heated in the circular 80-seat chamber will rise through a great funnel, the most dramatic feature of the building, which also serves as a lantern and lightwell, where it will be blown to the winds.

This functional element has been designed elegantly and playfully.

It is capped with a wind-driven rotating stainless-steel cowling that will keep air in the chamber fresh.

It recalls the wind towers on top of medieval buildings found in the Middle East, which obviate the need for air-conditioning.

The Cardiff building is by and large naturally ventilated, with air-conditioning available in the chamber on days of stifling heat.

Committee rooms and offic