ABSTRACT
Whilst David Boswell Reid was unable to fulfil the role of a mechanical engineer, he provided Charles Barry’s architectural team with the specific skills and knowledge required to address problems of ventilation. In addition to providing an understanding of natural ventilation, Reid also contributed to the non-technical aspects of ventilation, such as indoor air quality, health, thermal comfort and the experience and behaviour of the Houses of Parliament’s occupants. This suggests that by the middle of the 19th century ‘environmental design’ had already begun to be understood as a larger, cross-disciplinary field in which physiological, social and environmental factors were addressed in tandem with the more immediate problems of mechanical engineering. Reid advocated a utilitarian approach to design that was primarily concerned with the environmental function of buildings. He was an outspoken critic of the architectural practice and education of his time, and considered the scientific method as a potential alternative to historicism as the foundation of building design.
