National Diet Building, located in Chome, Nagatacho in the Chiyoda ward in Tokyo, dates back to 1920 when its construction began. The construction of the building was completed in the year1936. The building houses the sessions of the Diet of Japan. The two sessions that is the House of Councilors and House of Representatives are held on the right side and the left side respectively.
Earlier, two plans were drawn for the construction of the National Diet Building by architect Hermann Ende and Wilhelm Bockmann. According to their design the building was suppose to have a wing and a dome. This plan did not materialize. Ralph Adams Cam's proposal of an oriental style building also failed.
The Japanese government then chose an architect from Japan named Yoshii Shigenori and another associate of Bockmann named Adolph Stegmueller to start designing a temporary architecture. In 1980, the first building in the European pattern, with two storey made of wood started to operate as the diet building in a place called Hibiya. But this building caught fire and
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burnt down completely. After 2 months on this site, another building was constructed in 1891 by Yoshii, along with Oscar Tietze. This building, which functioned as the National Diet Building till 1925, was quite larger than the previous one.
National Diet Building spread across a total site area of 103,001 meters square. The height of the building is 20.91 meters, while the central tower is 65.45 meters in height. There are three floors in the National Diet Building with a courtyard and the main entrance in the first floor. The second floor comprises a reception room and an office for the House of Councilor's President, central hall, cabinet chamber, state ministers room, and a dining hall for the members. The Emperor's room, royal family's room, pubic gallery, committee room are all situated on the third floor.
The committee room annex consists of the meeting rooms, which are used by the committee members. The underground path of National Diet Building connects this building to the Member's Office Building, which is used by the members of the House of Councilors.
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