Editing Senate Building (section)

== Layout ==
=== Exterior ===
[[File:Senethall.jpg|thumb|right|The Senate Building at night]] 
A massive drum-shaped building boasting a shield-shaped dome with a diameter of more than two kilometers, the Senate Building was built some time after 3,996 BBY following the duel between Jedi Master Vodo-Siosk Baas and Sith Lord Exar Kun in the old Senate Hall. On Coruscant, new structures were typically erected on top of older buildings, eliminating the need for demolition; the ancient meeting hall of the Galactic Senate served as the foundations of the new Senate Tower.<sup>[[#Sources|[4]]]</sup>

Located in the heart of the Senate District, the building was situated at the end of a large, flat concourse known as the Avenue of the Core Founders. This area was lined with tall, impressionistic humanoid statues, each representing a founder from each of the Core Worlds. Surrounded by the Senate Plaza, several parks such as the Gardens of Equality and Justice served as meeting places near to the Rotunda.<sup>[[#Sources|[21]]]</sup> 

Adorning the front of the building were two narrow towers. One of these structures contained the primary office of the Supreme Chancellor during the Galactic Republic. The summit chamber's design was antiquate by the administration of Chancellor Finis Valorum and offered a wide view of the capital. Following the election of Chancellor Palpatine, the former representative of Naboo ordered the construction of the Republic Executive Building and moved his primary working office to a brand new suite there.<sup>[[#Sources|[22]]]</sup>

=== Interior ===
Entrance to the Rotunda was gained after passing through the ceremonial entryway known as the Great Door. Adorned with the Great Seal of the Republic and the sigils of the Thousand Worlds, the doors were open to all who might enter, as symbolic of the Republic as the iconography emblazoning the durasteel. Directly beyond the Great Door was the large Atrium of the Senate. This grand circular chamber was lined with statues of the Republic's greatest heroes and politicians, as well as members of the Jedi Order, the atrium continued on deeper into the building where a long, two story hall granted access to several first level embassies and conference rooms. Among the room's tower pillars senators and diplomats gathered and conversed with one another before proceeding on into the Grand Convocation Chamber just beyond the chamber's far door.<sup>[[#Sources|[21]]]</sup> 

Occupying the majority of the building central mass was the cavernous Grand Convocation Chamber, a tiered chamber sometimes referred to as the Senate Arena. The slightly slopping walls of the funnel-shaped room were lined with repulsorpods arranged in concentric patterns from floor to ceiling, which soared over a hundred meters high. The center of the vast chamber was dominated by a podium used by the Supreme Chancellor, the Vice Chair and the Senior Administrative Aide to coordinate the sessions. The chamber contained a total of 1024 repulsorpods, which could be used by delegations from member systems and large voting blocs. When a Senator or representative wished to address the body they were able to detach their pod from its magnetic berth and move out into the open space of the chamber on an automated path. From there, their address would echo throughout the room, translated into hundreds of different languages instantaneously and piped into the other pods for ease of understanding. Small hovercams constantly hovered around the chamber, recording the words of the speakers and broadcasting them onto the ceiling-mounted vidscreens to allow the congregation to view up close visuals of the orator. Because sessions tended to grow long and last into the night, natural light and air was not used to fill the room. Instead, an artificial glow kept the room lit so as to diminish the senators' sense of time.<sup>[[#Sources|[4]]]</sup> 

[[File:Galacticsenate.png|thumb|right|The Grand Convocation Chamber]] 
Directly beneath the Convocation Chamber was a series of rooms known as the Chancellery Secretariat, a set of offices used by the Chancellor and his aides while at the Senate Building. At the heart of the Secretariat was the holding office, located directly below the Senate Chamber and home to the Chancellor's podium when it was not in use. Before the start of a session of the Congress, the Chancellor and his aides would board the podium and the ceiling would dilate and the hydraulics driving the chamber would raise it into arena.[9] A turbolift was also installed under the Chancellor's seat, able to evacuate him from the podium without having to lower it.<sup>[[#Sources|[23]]]</sup> 

Access to the chamber was granted through a small antechamber where the ceremonial, blue-robed Senate Guard stood at attention. The upper tiers of repulsorpods of the Senate Chamber were each assigned a permanent delegation. These senators represented large voting blocs in the Senate or held long tenures in the Republic, such as the representatives of the Core Worlds. These delegations were afforded permanent wedge-shaped offices, which included a multi-room preparation chamber adjoined to the delegation's platform and a separate, larger set of chambers which stretched to the outer edge of the building and served as a place for each delegation's countless aides to toil endlessly without need of travel. These offices were separated from each other by the sloping, canyon-like Grand Concourse, a long corridor that ringed the entire Convocation chamber on each level. The black tile floor of the bridges and walkways that made up the Concourse was punctuated by the towering silver impressionistic statues that lined it, similar to those found on the Avenue of the Core Founders. Private turbolifts lined the walls of the Concourse, conveying senators to and from their offices, connecting them with the rest of the building.<sup>[[#Sources|[4]]]</sup> 

Security in the building was monitored from the main security center deep in the heart of the building. Senate Guards protected the Senate Chamber as well as delegation offices throughout the building,<sup>[[#Sources|[4]]]</sup> while members of the Coruscant Security Force patrolled the halls which were otherwise open to the public.<sup>[[#Sources|[21]]]</sup> Communications throughout the complex were handled by the Senate Communications Center, which was responsible not only for broadcasting the Senate proceedings throughout the building and the galaxy, but for screening all incoming transmissions to Senators and representatives. While each delegation pod in the chamber had privacy buffers under normal circumstances to prevent eavesdropping during private conversations, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine had this function disabled during the Clone Wars in an effort to increase security.<sup>[[#Sources|[24]]]</sup> 

Many storefronts and restaurants occupied the Senate Building, allowing Senators and their staff to shop and eat without leaving the complex. The dining commons was a formal eating establishment popular during the Clone Wars, while others preferred more casual eateries.<sup>[[#Sources|[25]]]</sup> Below the Senate Rotunda was the Senate Commercial District, wherein the Commerce Hall and Galactic Trade Center were located.<sup>[[#Sources|[21]]]</sup> 

=== Remodeling ===
Following the Declaration of a New Order, the Galactic Republic Senate was reformed into the Imperial Senate, which continued to make use of the Senate Building. Gone were statues of the Jedi Order, as were certain privacy buffers in the Senate pods and offices. Many high level Imperials moved their offices to the Imperial Palace and the number of planets petitioning for admittance into the Empire paled compared with the Republic. Following the highly destructive duel between Emperor Palpatine and Grand Master Yoda, the Emperor instructed the architects to install an extensive crystal ceiling, replacing the old holomonitors and casting a shimmering light on the central podium.<sup>[[#Sources|[15]]]</sup> 

The Senate Building stood largely unchanged after the fall of the Empire and the occupation of the Building by the New Republic Senate. This would change in 17 ABY when the Dark Jedi Kueller bombed the structure, collapsing the Chancellor's podium and ripping out chunks of the chamber and killing many members of the Congress.<sup>[[#Sources|[26]]]</sup> The subsequent reconstruction saw the internal fittings of the auditorium completely replaced and the Grand Convocation Chamber, which reopened in 19 ABY, was thought of by many contemporaries as an entirely "new" structure, distinct from the old Senate Chamber. The facility was extensively redecorated; no longer would the leader of the Senate, now known as the Chief of State, stand at the center of the room, but on a dais at the room's ground level. Most strikingly of all, in place of the former geometric arrangement of repulsorpods, the seating for delegates was organized into clusters of differing size and shape arranged around the rotunda, connected to each other by ramps and stairways, and capable of holding more than 2,000 delegates. The overall effect of the design was to create a complex arrangement of contrasting forms and details, combined nevertheless into a clear, coherent harmony.<sup>[[#Sources|[15]]]</sup> 

Despite changes to the main chamber, the old Senate Building's superstructure proved to be an exceptionally durable shell to house the Convocation Chamber without demolition being necessary. The main entrance was still through the venerable Great Door and the Atrium which it enclosed, and while the fittings of the Senate Chamber might have been entirely new, they had been reverently installed in an old auditorium, leaving the preexisting structure intact underneath. Statues around the building were replicated and installed; however, post-Imperial influence saw the addition of non-Human figures all around the complex. As membership in the New Republic grew, new balconies were added to the existing clusters to accommodate the growth; rumors about reincorporating the repulsorpods spread during Borsk Fey'lya's administration, but never came to fruition under the New Republic.<sup>[[#Sources|[16]]]</sup> 

Following the fall of Coruscant during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, both the exterior and interior of the building were digested by yorik coral, giving the building the appearance of a Yuuzhan Vong skull. The new indemonstrable shell of the Senate Building delved deep below the tower, encasing the structure and making it sound against concussion missiles and orbital bombardment—possibly even a planetary explosion. Inside, the former Senate auditorium was filled with a pool of nutrients and became the home of the giant World Brain, the controlling organ behind the invaders terraforming project. Still accessible from the former Atrium of the Senate, a long corridor cut half a kilometer into the building and onto a bridge that spanned half the convocation chamber. The holding office below was transformed into a secret bunker, where a single escape craft was preserved for Nom Anor.<sup>[[#Sources|[16]]]</sup> 

Following the defeat of the Yuuzhan Vong, the Galactic Alliance restored the Building to his pre-Imperial form. The Chief of State's Suite was placed at the summit of the building, and repulsorpods were reincorporated into the Grand Convocation Chamber. The Chief's podium was not recreated however; instead they would occupy their own floating platform to make addresses to the Senate.<sup>[[#Sources|[19]]]</sup>