This study aims at reaching new knowledge about what meanings public buildings send out by studying 4 newly erected municipal buildings in Sweden. By adopting Göran Sonessons theory on semiotics as a study of meaning it is possible to study the meaning of buildings. This study uses pictoral semioticts to study buildings depicted in pictures.  By viewing all parts of buildings as bearers of meaning by their positioning and their arrangement new knowledge can be reached about the meanings of buildings.  By studying pictures of buildings this study can show that the municipal buildings send out meanings that present the municipality as transparent, open, modern and urban organizations. The pictures of buildings, and buildings studied here all follow similar ideas about the organizations they represent and are all similar in their way to manifest and symbolize meanings.