In his 1970s design vision for a permanent parliament in Australia’s capital of Canberra, according to an online government history, architect Romaldo “Aldo” Giurgola said the structure could not be built on top of the hilltop site, “as this would symbolize government imposed upon the people. The building should nest with the hill, symbolically rising out of the Australian landscape as true democracy rises from the state of things.”
The Italy-born visionary, whose design became an award-winning national icon, died on May 15 in Canberra, his adopted city. He was 95.