Parliament House Canberra

35.3080°S, 149.1250°E.

Parliament House Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory — the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia, opened on 9 May 1988 by Queen Elizabeth II. The building was designed by the New York-based architectural firm Mitchell/Giurgola and Thorp following an international competition in 1980. Original cost approximately 1.1 billion Australian dollars — the most expensive single building constructed in the southern hemisphere up to that date. The structure is built into Capital Hill: the building's roof is the original ground level of the hill, with the Parliament chambers, ministerial offices, and public areas located beneath the natural surface. The most distinctive external feature is the 81-metre stainless-steel flagpole rising from the centre of the roof, designed to remain visible from across the capital city. The building covers 250,000 square metres with 4,500 rooms.

A national parliament built into a hill so that the original landscape is preserved over the legislative chambers, in a city whose entire urban plan was selected by an international competition in 1911 won by an American.