Video | The Building
Virtual Tours
Rhuanedd Richards, Presenter of BBC Wales' Political Programmes is your guide for the virtual tour of the Senedd. Click on the links to find out more about each area.
The Building
The Senedd covers an area of 5,000m
2 with slate, concrete, steel, glass and timber forming the main materials for the new building.
The frame of the building is concrete, cast on site and chosen because of its robustness to counter blasts, as well as for its thermal properties which help with the overall environmental performance of the building. The highly finished concrete is boldly visible both within the building and outside on the main walls.
Since Richard Rogers won the commission to design the new building, his original vision altered to respond to increased security concerns. In particular, his vision of a delicate glass façade has been replaced by a vast mesh of steel and glass.
Perhaps the most striking feature of the building is the undulating roof which is built of steel and finished in a delicate wooden red cedar soffit. The six roof modules were pre-assembled off-site and at night the roof is gently lit to create the impression of a 'floating' roof structure.
Over 1,000 tonnes of Welsh Slate has been used in the Senedd to create the external walls and internally to create the slate flooring. The entrance to the Senedd is built up from a progression of sloping slate terraces and ramps that rise up from the water's edge and into the main entrance point at the top of the plinth. The effect is to draw people to the building and encourage them to engage in the political process.
The building has been designed as an exemplar, not just of environmental performance and accessibility, but of permanent architectural statement of intent.
The virtual tour was produced by BBC Wales before the official opening of the Senedd on St. David’s Day 2006. You can find out more about the Senedd on BBC Online by following this link: www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/sites/assembly/
© Copyright – BBC Wales 2006
