2016
Author(s): XML

7.0 x 5.25 x 1.75 inches
448 pages
paperback

Parliament is the space where politics literally takes shape. Here, collective decisions take form in a specific setting where relationships between political actors are organized through architecture. The architecture of spaces of political congregation is not only an expression of a political culture, it also shapes this culture.

Since 2010, architecture office XML has researched the architecture of spaces of political congregation. This website is the virtual counterpart to the book Parliament that is one of the outcomes of this research. The book explores the double-sided relationship between space and politics by documenting and comparing the plenary halls of the parliaments of all 193 United Nations member states. Almost like a manual archive, the book documents the rooms in the same style and scale and also provides key data and the assembly hall’s location within the larger parliament building. Organized as a lexicon, the book allows comparison of all 193 national parliaments in the world.

While the architectural diagrams in the book examine architectural typologies, this website offers virtual views of the interiors of various parliaments. The content of this website is built around a selection of 360x180° panorama-photographs that were taken by XML between 2011 and 2013 in a number of visited spaces of political congregations around the world.