Council Chamber

The Council Chamber

The Council Chamber

On the first floor, directly above the Entrance Hall and of the same semicircular shape, is the Council Chamber, a dignified room intended for meetings of bodies such as the B.B.C.’s Advisory Councils, and enabling, for instance, representative international committees to meet in London under the B.B.C.’s own roof. The room, which has been designed by the architect, is panelled throughout in light brown Tasmanian oak. The sixty-foot sweep of the straight back wall and the long curve of the front are relieved by panelling, radiator grills, and lighting pillars surmounted by wrought-oak urns, which illuminate the entire room by reflected light. The furniture includes long tables of Queensland walnut curved to the shape of the room.

Second Floor

Diagram of second floor
A room filled with books
71 ❧ The Library, furnished with apple-green steel shelving.
A boardroom with a table surrounded by straight-backed chairs
72 ❧ The Committee Room on the second floor. The panelling and furniture is in light oak.
A corridor, curving to the right
73 ❧ The Corridor outside the 'Tower', with offices on the left, and the wall of the 'Tower' on the right.

First Floor

Diagram of the first floor
A view from the stairs looking at lift doors and further stairs
75 ❧ The First Floor Landing, showing the staircase up to the Council Chamber and the Staff Lifts.
Two curved tables, one long, one short, surrounded by upholstered chairs
76 ❧ The Council Chamber. A general view, showing the walls panelled in Tasmanian oak, the indirect lighting, and the furniture. The tables are made of Queensland walnut of a dark grey colour. In height the Council Chamber occupies one and a half floors, the entrance being on a level half-way between the first and second floors.
Rows of desks, each with a woman behind a typewriter
77 ❧ The General Typing Office on the first floor, with windows looking onto Portland Place.
Armless upholstered chairs around a glass-topped table
78 ❧ The First Floor Committee Room.
from TRANSDIFFUSION
1932 // THIS IS TRANSDIFFUSION