What goes on in two buildings in the Middle East might one day affect us all, and maybe not for the good.
Two days ago the world remembered the Hiroshima mushroom cloud of 1945.
The following is an extract from the Austrian Pavilion Catalogue (pub. Birkhäuser, Basel ISBN 978-3-03821-679-7) which was on sale at
La Biennale di Venezia 2014.
Israel
Unitary Parliamentary Republic
area: 21,640 km2
pop: 7,907,900
gdp: $31,868
Parliament
Jerusalem
built 1966
vol: 209,500 m3
delegates: 120 (1 representative per 65,889 citizens, and comprising 77.5% males and 22.5% females).
architect: Joseph Klarwein (Poland)
remarks: ". . . Israel's
Knesset building has emerged as a classical monumental parliament building. A colonnade of full-length columns surrounds a broad cubiform structure and an inner courtyard divided by the plenary hall. Joseph Klarwein's original design was substantially modified following criticism of its alleged fascist-connotated neoclassicism."
Iran
Unitary Presidential Islamic Republic
area: 1,628,550 km2
pop: 76,424,443
gdp: $11,310
Parliament
Tehran
built 2004
vol: 369,400 m3
delegates: 290 (1 representative per 263,532 citizens, and comprising 96.9% males and 3.1% females).
architect: Polmir Consulting Architects, Engineers & Planners (Iran)
remarks: "The Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran or
Majlis is housed in a modern building, shaped like a pyramid. The unicameral parliament can draft, debate, and pass legislation, but requires the approval of the Guardian Council for its decisions to be turned into law. Candidacies for parliament are also approved or disqualified by the Guardian Council which is in turn overseen by the Supreme Leader . . . ."