The Marshall Islands could teach the world a lot with an amphibious parliament building
Few countries are experiencing the effects of rising global temperatures as acutely as the Marshall Islands. This nation of some 59,000 people is spread across more than 1,500 islands in the Pacific, with many just one or two metres above sea level. In its capital, Majuro, high spring tides regularly flood the streets, contaminating drinking water and forcing residents to seek higher ground. It’s here that the federal parliament building burned down earlier this week.
While the loss is a blow to the country’s infrastructure and cultural heritage – claiming government offices, a library and the national archives – it also offers an opportunity. Known as the Nitijela, the building was constructed around the time of independence in the 1980s and wasn’t designed to address the nation’s current environmental challenges. Nor did it serve as a benchmark for what Marshallese architecture could aspire to – something that other countries have successfully achieved.
Take Australia’s Parliament House (pictured, above), which was completed in 1988 by design firm Mitchell, Giurgola & Thorp. Its main structure is tucked into a hill, with an earthen roof providing thermal insulation and creating a grassy mound on which people can physically walk above their representatives. Similarly, Louis Kahn and Muzharul Islam’s 1982 parliament building in Dhaka features large geometric openings and a surrounding lake, designed to circulate cool air throughout the building – essential in the Bangladeshi capital’s humid climate. Commissioning one of the world’s foremost modernist architects was also a statement of intent from a rapidly developing nation hoping to show a new, modern face to the world.
So what opportunities do the Marshall Islands have? The country’s president, Hilda Heine, re-elected in 2023, leads a government that is already serving as a testing ground for innovative climate solutions, from floating solar arrays and salt-resistant crops to mangrove restoration projects (which provide natural coastal defences while supporting local fisheries). Creating a new parliament building that can respond to floods and rising sea levels could be another climate-minded statement from Heine.
Elsewhere, amphibious architecture has been constructed from hollow concrete boxes attached to steel pillars, which provide buoyancy and allow the structures to rise and float on water during floods. Here, an experimental, ecologically conscious building that embraces such a concept could position the Marshall Islands as a regional leader in sustainable architecture. Despite its small GDP, the nation might also attract investment from other countries contending with similar issues (Taiwan, for instance, is backing the country’s crop programme). As in Australia and Bangladesh, it would give the country a building of global renown too – something for its people to be proud of.
