Largest
administrative building: world record set by The Palace of
the Romanian Parliament
[April
4] BUCHAREST, Romania -- The Palace of the Romanian Parliament
(Chief Architect Mrs. Anca Petrescu) has a floor area of 360,000 square meter - setting the world
record for the Largest
administrative building (for civilian use*).
The
Palace of the Romanian Parliament is also the world's Heaviest
Building: it was made from 1.5billion lb (700,000 metric
tones) of steel and bronze, plus 35.3 million ft³ (1 million
m³) of marble, 7.7 million lb (3,500 metric tones) of crystal
glass, and 31.7 million ft³ (900,000 m³) of wood. (enlarge
photo)
The Palace of the Parliament is also the
world's Most
Expensive Administrative building in the world: updated
total costs (2006) are estimated at 4 billions USD.
The
building was constructed almost entirely of materials of Romanian
origin.
Among them: 3,500 tonnes of crystal - 480 chandeliers,
1,409 ceiling lights and mirrors were manufactured; 700,000
tonnes of steel and bronze for monumental doors and windows,
chandeliers and capitals; 900,000 m³ of wood (over 95% domestic)
for parquet and wainscotting, including walnut, oak, sweet
cherry, elm, sycamore maple; 200,000 m² of woolen carpets
of various dimensions (machines had to be moved inside the
building to weave some of the larger carpets); velvet and
brocade curtains adorned with embroideries and passementeries
in silver and gold.
The security features, a testimony to Ceausescu's
fears of attack, might still be useful during the April NATO
meeting if the Alliance's leaders were to come under threat,
said its designer and chief architect, Anca Petrescu. "The
building is prepared for a high degree of security," she said
for Reuters.
The underground parking has enough space for 20,000
cars!
The Palace of the Parliament measures
270 m by 240 m, 86 m high, and 92 m under ground. It has 1,100
rooms and is 12 stories tall, with four additional underground
levels currently available and in use, with another four in
different stages of completion.
The Chief Architect was 28yrs old Mrs. Anca Petrescu(photo left);
she was the leader of a team of 700 architects and 20,000
people working 27/7.
(enlarge photo)
The building was originally known mainly
as the House of the People (Casa Poporului), and sometimes
as House of the Republic (Casa Republicii), and was intended
to serve as headquarters for all the major state institutions
(similar to what the Houses of Parliament operated like).
However, the project was just nearing completion
at the time of Nicolae Ceausescu's 1989 overthrow and execution.
Since 1997, the building has housed Romania's
Chamber of Deputies, which had previously been housed in the
Palace of the Patriarchy; the Romanian Senate joined them
there in 2005, having previously been housed in the former
Communist Party Central Committee building.
The Palace also contains a massive array of miscellaneous
conference halls, salons, etc., used for a wide variety of
other purposes.
Also in the building is the headquarters
of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI), an
organization focused on regional cooperation among governments
against cross-border crime.
Parts of the building (some of the
west wing, some of the east wing, parts of the second floor,
basement 3 and everything below) are yet to be completed.
Currently, a new underground car-park is being
built inside a former stadium, currently used as a warehouse,
which was covered during the construction of the palace. Tunnels
linking 13 Septembrie Avenue with the basement of the building
will be built.
There are public tours organized in a number
of languages.
The Palace of the Romanian Parliament hosted
the largest NATO
summit on on April 2-4, the largest international
event ever staged in Romania.
Heads of state or government from 26 NATO
member states attended the summit
in the Union Hall, the largest room in the building, which
features a sliding glass ceiling that could support the weight
of a helicopter.
*The
largest building for MILITARY use is the Pentagon in Arlington,
Virginia, USA: it has a floor area of 6.5 million ft² (604,000
m²).
Panoramic
view- courtesy of : www.panoramax.ro
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