The Senedd is the home of the Welsh Parliament and one of the best public buildings in Cardiff. Richard Rogers's design is deliberately transparent — huge glass walls let you see the debating chamber from outside, and the public gallery is open free on sitting days. The timber-slatted roof with its funnel-shaped ventilation cowls is as distinctive close up as it is in photographs.
Free tours of the building run on non-sitting days and cover the debating chamber, the committee rooms and the architecture itself. It is one of the few parliaments in the world where you can turn up unannounced and have a look around the whole building. The visitor centre explains how the Welsh Parliament works and the history of Welsh devolution.
The Senedd sits directly opposite the Wales Millennium Centre on Roald Dahl Plass — the two buildings bookend the bay's main public space and work well together as a pair of architectural statements.