The open society and it's enemies II

I just visited the Town hall of London. In the gaining dusk and light drizzle this beautiful city just looks as it was supposed to, with yellow lights beaconing from pubs and millionaire flats in the Docklands. The townhall is the most democratic building I've been to so far - with it's translucent skin and elegant skeleton it is much more interesting from the inside than the outside. A snailing, spiralling staircase winds it's way down from the top (euphemistically called the living room of London, but much more the storage backroom) through a well of offices walled by large glass panes and right down into an open assembly forum, with no podium, just a floor. It all conveys a sense of openness and friendly embrace.

And I just wondered how much this kind of symbolic metaphors does influence citizens of a democracy and the ones opposed to the open society. Would political participation be heightened if we moved the intestines of policy out in to the street? And could powerpolitics survive in sunshine?