Inside the world's third ugliest building - “The Beehive”, Wellington, New Zealand

When I first moved to the capital of New Zealand Wellington 2 years ago, a weird building got my attention. It is called the Beehive but somehow I don't feel it is the right name. Until recently Hive account@frittro told me that it is also known as A slide projector that fell on a wedding cake that fell on a waterwheel . I know that must be it, the name that I've been thinking about.

The Beehive is one of the four buildings in Wellington that house NZ's Parliament so it would be great for migrants like us to visit and learn more about the country. As we live in Wellington, I think there is no rush, we can wait until a perfect time to pay a visit.

Wellington is an interesting place, there are so many things to do and see, I had slowly forgotten about the parliament building I wanted to see. Until I learned that there was a free tour of this building, I knew it was the time to go.

I arranged time during the Christmas and New Year break to do this tour. Since this is the best time of year in Wellington, the summer weather won't be too cold and the pohutukawa flowers are in full bloom.

It was the holidays after Christmas, and my partner and I decided to walk from our house to the parliament building and book a tour. Unfortunately, they were closed during the holiday season. I took my time walking around the garden in front of the parliament house and taking pictures of the pohutukawa flowers.

^{Entrance to the parliament houses}

^{It used to be the world's third ugliest building. But when I saw it with the pohutukawa flowers, it looks pretty alright}

^{I fell into with these Christmas flowers. Never get enough of it}

We had to wait until the new year to book a visit. At exactly 3 pm, we were in the lobby of the building to register. After waiting for the security check and declaration, we met our tour guide Rob, he has been here for many years and is very happy to be able to share with us what he knows. about this building.

The tour begins with a short 6-minute video summary of the places we will be allowed to visit and a greeting from Mr Speaker of the house. Right after that, Rob led us to the first place of the tour. It is the big hall of the National Assembly building – the Banquet Hall, on the first floor of the Beehive, also known as the Executive Wing, where events and parties such as charities, fundraising events take place. This is where he introduces the building's architecture, areas, departments and history.

I didn't hear very well why they built this building like this so I went online to find out when I got home. I then learn that Sir Basil Spence - a British architect - chose the design concept for this building. In his concept, rooms and offices radiated from a central core (source: NZ Parliament)

We are not allowed to take photos or videos of the visiting areas. That's why I cited the photo source from the official NZ Parliament website.

^{A large three-dimensional mural by John Boys Drawbridge (1930–2005). The mural portrays the atmosphere and sky of New Zealand using enamel gloss paint on aluminium angles}

We then moved on to the Parliamentary House, which, according to Rob, is where the queen entered on her inauguration day. Currently, this great hall is also the place where the media sets up cameras to interview politicians.

^{The Parliamentary House, right next to the Beehive}

The next location is the Debating Chamber, located at the heart of Parliament House. This is the place where the House of Representatives meets. Rob carefully told us not to touch anything in that room and only stay within the circle. It is a great thing for me as I haven't had a chance to enter a place where politicians sit to debate bills and discuss negotiating business.

^{NZ Parliament website}

And the last one is the one that everyone is so familiar with, a place where the Prime Minister provide COVID’s updates. Rob is a brilliant tour guide as he arranged for some of us to play roles as the Prime Minister and the Director-General of Health.

I have to be honest, I don't know much about the NZ parliament houses, even though with the tour, I am still not able to remember it. That's why I decided to write this post to share with you and also made some researches by myself. This way, I can learn more about the places that I visited and help me to remember them better.

^{Designed with Canva}