New Zealand Parliament Architecture

The New Zealand parliament buildings have many different forms of architecture.    The Executive office building (also know as the "Beehive") was made into the shape of a beehive.  Since this building is circular there are no rectangular rooms.  The "Beehive" is designed by British architect Sir Basil Spence.  People make jokes about this building like "What's buzzing in the beehive?"  or "We always knew our politicians spent most of their time going round in circles!"
The materials used in these Parliamentary buildings are all materials from New Zealand (marble and wood).  All three of the Parliamentary buildings are connected together so that you can walk from one to the other without going outside.  The Parliamentary library has an attractive pink Gothic-Revival structure.  The Parliament house, next door is built out of marble in a colonial style.

The Base Isolation Earthquake Proofing (for the sake of time B.I.E.P.) system can absorb the impact of an earthquake up to 7.5 on the Richter scale and can move up to 30 cm in any horizontal direction.  The B.I.E.P. works with numerous pillars located in the basement of the building, holding up the top of the building. These pillars shift if an earthquake were to occur, so that the building does not get damaged. The building will sway slightly.  New Zealand designed this system and it is now being used all over the world.

-Maddie

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-Damon