Sunday 17 July 2011

Parliamentary chambers

The design of the British House of Commons chamber has been copied around the world.

The Commons chamber used to look like this:


But now, following successive refits by Pugin and Gilbert Scott, it looks like this:


The green colouring and the opposing rows of benches are also seen in, for example, the Canadian House of Commons:


And the Parliament of Uganda:


As well as the old House of Assembly of "Rhodesia":


A smaller-scale version is seen in the Manx House of Keys:


In other cases, the design has been altered by the adoption of something like a continental-style semi-circular arrangement, and perhaps a slightly different colour scheme, as in the Australian House of Representatives:


And the New Zealand House of Representatives:


And also the Indian Lok Sabha: