Ground Level

+ Room 1

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+ Library Tunnel

A new pedestrian tunnel was constructed as part of the Capitol Visitor Center project. The irregular shape is a product of the topography, the jointed curve fits flush against new retaining walls. Before 9/11, the Librarian of Congress had unsuccessfully pushed for a pedestrian tunnel to help bring in more visitors from the heavily trafficked Capitol. They got $10 million for the underground connection after 9/11, by rebranding the project as an evacuation tunnel.

+ Congressional Auditorium

The concept of a Congressional Auditorium originated in the 1990s as a pet project of Librarian of Congress James Billington. Who sought a public venue to display the Library’s film collection. After 9/11 plans for the theater developed into a substitute meeting place for Congress in the event a catastrophic attack on the aboveground Capitol. This is just one of several redundant facilities, known as “alternate legislative chambers”, established at various distances from Capitol Hill. Other alternate chamber sites mentioned in various pubic records include Lincoln Hall at Fort McNair, and the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing room in the Hart Building, among others. Architect of the Capitol Alan Hantman described the auditorium as “essentially a SCIF,” referring by acronym to the spy-proof meeting rooms known as Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities. Each space features significant behind-the-scenes improvements to electrical infrastructure, anti-eavesdropping measures, and they are pre-staged with certain parliamentary records and voting equipment.

+ House Recording Studio

After 9/11, at great expense, Congress ordered unfinished spaces to be redesigned as a low-key House office building. On the House side, much of this critical space ended up as the House Recording Studio. This is a high-tech broadcast facility with various backdrops for interviews that make it appear as though they are taking place in a picturesque setting at the aboveground Capitol. It is used by the 3,500 credentialed radio or broadcast journalists in the House during their interviews with lawmakers. It also supports the filming of floor proceedings in the House and Senate. Not all lawmakers are fans. “It’s a propaganda center,” Representatives David Obey complained during one CVC oversight hearing. “It’s a place where we can all do our best to make ourselves look good [on TV].” The House recording studio is governed by strict rules, suggesting perhaps that there may have been prior abuses that needed codifying. Only accredited broadcast or print journalists may book time in the recording studio. The journalist must remain in-studio for the duration of the interview, and must actually use the interview in news coverage. Members of Congress may only use the studio with the invitation of an accredited journalist. The House Radio and TV website also explicitly clarifies that defeated lawmakers and new candidates need not apply - the studio is available to “only current members of Congress.”

+ Truck Tunnel

A large truck tunnel curves into the lowest level of the CVC from New Jersey Avenue. Another old idea that got rebranded for the age of anti-terror. Drive-in entrances had been a part of the east front project since its first conception as a parking garage / bomb shelter during the 1960s. In the post-9/11 iteration, it was reimagined secure way to handle the building’s deliveries and garbage collection.

+ CVC Scifs

And Intel Committee SCIFs. Rep. Obey: “If you take a look at the floor plans, the lower floor for the House portion is essentially taken up by space for the Intelligence Committee.” This rarely seen area is where a lot of the Trump investigative hearings took place. A lot of the Trump hearings took place here.

+ Roof Deck

[Roof Deck.] Two-foot thick concrete roof deck can resist explosions and support helicopter landings. Skylights set into the roof (also bomb resistant) bring natural light into the CVC and “alleviate a feeling of a bunker,” according to an AOC spokesman. The area had previously been used as a surface parking lot.

+ Entrance

Entrance ramps slope down to blast containment chamber used as security checkpoint. Surrounding landscape and hardscape also positioned to absorb blasts or gunfire. Standoff distance to Capitol: 330 feet.

+ ROOM TK

TKTK

+ ROOM TK

TKTK