"It is like a tomb; a very, very dark blue," Ms Vollmer continues. "When you make a call, everyone around you can hear every word," Ms Vollmer complains "For politicians it's simply impractical. Foster creates big difficulties, because he says he does not want the artistic concept disturbed." So no phone booths, says the builder.There is a problem with the library. "I think what Foster has done here is a work of genius," says Antje Vollmer, deputy president of the German parliament.

"But there are a few things that, from the point of view of the daily workings of parliament, are very difficult."MPs would quite like the privacy of some telephone booths, for instance. "Not here." Since its opening this year, the building has become a big tourist attraction. Visitors flock to its glass dome, admiring on their way up the vast selection of modern art on the sandstone walls.But some of the people working there are uninspired by their environment, and complain of irritating details. It is not quite ballot-rigging as there is nothing in the rules to prevent it, but Riba is looking into the matter and insiders believe the rules may be changed.As for the people of Berlin, or at least those who have to use the Reichstag, they are less than impressed with Lord Foster's work.Take the bartender casting a contemptuous glance at the mural above her head "It belongs to a museum," she says.

Staff were sent an e-mail by the management informing them of the competition and explaining how to vote. Pity then that so few bothered to vote.To make matters worse, it has now emerged that a fair number of those who did vote actually work for Foster and Partners. On Friday Building Design magazine revealed that he had won the award on the back of a mere 60 votes, such is the lack of interest in architecture among the British "people". The idea of the People's Choice is to let members of the public say which buildings they really like. Nevertheless the great man was no doubt touched when last week he took the award for his Reichstag refurbishment in Berlin His pleasure did not last long. "There are building engineers in here every day, trying to work out how to solve the problem," said a student.. AS ARCHITECTURAL prizes go, the Royal Institute of British Architects' "People's Choice" accolade is hardly premier division At least not for someone of the stature of Norman Foster. Each stops a couple of feet short of the glass, allowing noise to travel upwards.

"You can hear every word they are saying in the basement," said one library user. "Whenever someone buys a soft drink from the machine on the ground floor, the clunks of the can and the change being spat out reverberate through the building."To create the characteris- tic Foster ground-to-rooftop sweep of glass, which leaked during the first downpour after the opening, because some seals were faulty, the upper floors were built as "shelves". Every time students enter and leave the lecture halls in the basement, people in the Squire law library, on the upper three floors, are disturbed. "We're waiting for the inspectorate to come back to us to establish the next move," she said.In Cambridge, the Law Faculty designed by Lord Foster is the subject of complaints nearly four years after it opened. A stretch of unsightly wire fencing was hastily arranged around the handrails - in the middle of the gleaming, state-of-the art concourse. A London Underground spokeswoman was unable to say yesterday whether a redesign of the handrails was planned, or why the flaw was not spotted earlier.

But Canary Wharf, the Lord Foster-designed station on London's Jubilee Line extension, is proof that it is not only in Germany that users object to his creations, write Raymond Whitaker and Mark Rowe. No sooner had the station opened in September than the Railways Inspectorate dec- lared it was unhappy with the height of handrails around the second set of escalators. There was said to be a risk that commuters could tumble into the opening for the escalators which lead to the platforms. "This company has over four million customers who have a diversity of taste," he said.