Senate Building

The Senate Building, also known as the Senate Rotunda, Senate Tower, Convocation Center, or Senate Dome, is the building in Republic City in the centre of the Senate District which serves as the seat of the Republic Senate.

Exterior
A massive drum-shaped building boasting a shield-shaped dome with a diameter of 256 metres. Located in the heart of the Senate District, the building is situated at the end of a large, flat concourse known as the Avenue of the Core Founders. This area is lined with tall, impressionistic humanoid statues, each representing a founder. Surrounded by the Senate Plaza, several parks such as the Gardens of Equality and Justice serve as meeting places near to the Rotunda.

Interior
Entrance to the Rotunda is gained after passing through the ceremonial entryway known as the Great Door of the Senate. Adorned with the Great Seal of the Republic, the doors are open to all who might enter, as symbolic of the Republic as the iconography emblazoning the durasteel. Directly beyond the Great Door is the large Atrium of the Senate. This grand circular chamber is lined with statues of the Republic's greatest heroes and politicians, as well as members of the Jedi Order. The atrium continues on deeper into the building where a long, two story hall grants access to several first level embassies and conference rooms. Among the room's tower pillars senators and diplomats gather and converse with one another before proceeding on into the Grand Convocation Chamber just beyond the chamber's far door.

Occupying the majority of the building's central mass is the cavernous Grand Convocation Chamber, a tiered chamber sometimes referred to as the Senate Arena. The slightly sloping walls of the funnel-shaped room are lined with repulsorpods arranged in concentric patterns from floor to ceiling, which soar over a hundred meters high. The center of the vast chamber is dominated by a podium used by the Supreme Chancellor, the Vice Chair and the Senior Administrative Aide to coordinate the sessions. The chamber contains a total of # repulsorpods, which can be used by delegations from member groups and large voting blocs. When a Senator or representative wishes to address the body, they are 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 addresses echo throughout the room.

Directly beneath the Convocation Chamber is 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 is the holding office, located directly below the Senate Chamber and home to the Chancellor's podium when it is not in use. Before the start of a session of the Congress, the Chancellor and his aides board the podium and the ceiling dilates and the hydraulics driving the chamber rise it into arena. A turbolift is also installed under the Chancellor's seat, able to evacuate him from the podium without having to lower it.

Access to the chamber is granted through a small antechamber where the ceremonial, blue-robed Senate Guard stand at attention. The upper tiers of repulsorpods of the Senate Chamber are each assigned a permanent delegation. These senators represent large voting blocs in the Senate or hold long tenures in the Republic. These delegations are afforded permanent wedge-shaped offices, which include a multi-room preparation chamber adjoined to the delegation's platform and a separate, larger set of chambers which stretch to the outer edge of the building and serve as a place for each delegation's aides to toil endlessly without need of travel. These offices are separated from each other by the sloping, canyon-like Grand Concourse, a long corridor that rings the entire Convocation chamber on each level. The black tile floor of the bridges and walkways that make up the Concourse is punctuated by the towering silver impressionistic statues that line it, similar to those found on the Avenue of the Core Founders. Private turbolifts line the walls of the Concourse, conveying senators to and from their offices, connecting them with the rest of the building.

Security in the building is monitored from the main security center deep in the heart of the building. Senate Guards protect the Senate Chamber as well as delegation offices throughout the building, while members of the Coruscant Security Force patrol the halls which are otherwise open to the public. Each delegation pod in the chamber has privacy buffers to prevent eavesdropping during private conversations.