Something of the feel of the attention to detail will become clear when the hoardings are taken down from the "constituency wall" along Canongate. Here, the prosaic requirement for a blast-proof security perimeter has been turned to advantage with a powerfully sculpted concrete wall incorporatiing stones and inscriptions from all over Scotland.

You have to get into the complex to really appreciate what Miralles and Tagliabue had in mind. The public foyer with its triple-arched ceiling of smooth concrete - into which stylised saltire crosses are moulded - is an intriguing, almost cave-like, introduction. The debating chamber, directly above the foyer, is the opposite: a place of light.

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