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The U.S. Department of State - Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations announced the groundbreaking of the KieranTimberlake-designed U.S. Embassy in London on Nov. 13. KieranTimberlake of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was named as the project architect after winning the Department of State competition back in 2010. — bustler.net
To see previous news posts about the U.S. Embassy in London project, click here. View full entry
From six finalists to three and finally to one, Morphosis Architects will be designing the new U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, as announced by The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) earlier this week.
Morphosis won against top-name contenders Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Mack Scogin Merrill Elam / AECOM. All top three teams advanced to the competition's final round of presentations and interviews. Submitting designs weren't a requirement.
— bustler.net
Previously: Shortlist for new U.S. Embassy in Beirut now down to three finalists View full entry
The Stage 2 shortlist for the new U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon has now been narrowed down even further. — bustler.net
As the Department of State's Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) reports, these three design teams were selected for Stage 3 evaluation: Diller Scofidio + Renfro Mack Scogin Merrill Elam / AECOM Morphosis Architects Earlier this year in June, the Stage 1 shortlist still included Rafael... View full entry
The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) has shortlisted six design teams for the new U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. — bustler.net
The shortlisted teams are: Diller Scofidio + Renfro Mack Scogin Merrill Elam/AECOM Morphosis Architects Rafael Viñoly Architects Steven Holl Architects Yazdani Studio UPDATE: Shortlist for new U.S. Embassy in Beirut now down to three finalists UPDATE 2: Morphosis Architects selected to... View full entry
Four design firms have been shortlisted by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) for the major rehabilitation of the Athens Chancery project. The iconic modernist embassy building, designed by Walter Gropius with consulting architect Pericles A. Sakellarios, was constructed between 1959 and 1961 and is a protected architectural landmark. — bustler.net
The shortlisted firms are: Ann Beha Architects, Boston, MA DesignLab Architects, Inc., Boston, MA Machado Silvetti / Baker, Boston, MA Mark Cavagnero Associates, San Francisco, CA UPDATE: Ann Beha Architects selected for major rehabilitation of Gropius-designed Athens Chancery View full entry
There's been a tug of war between aesthetically pleasing and safe when it comes to American embassies around the world.
Many embassies have been slammed as bunkers, bland cubes and lifeless compounds. Even the new Secretary of State John Kerry said just a few years ago, "We are building some of the ugliest embassies I've ever seen."
But the choice between gardens and gates isn't just academic for diplomats — it can affect the way they work.
— npr.org
Previously: All the glamour of a corporate office block & American Embassy Buildings Increasingly Getting Ugly View full entry
London/Paris-based practice Matteo Cainer Architects Ltd has sent us its competition entry for the new Swiss embassy building in Yaoundé, the capital city of Cameroon, West Africa. The design is a play on the precision of Swiss clockwork mechanism and traditional Cameroon Musgum housing. — bustler.net
"In 1955, the US State Department commissioned Richard Neutra to design a new embassy in Karachi. Neutra's appointment was part of an ambitious program of architectural commissions to renowned architects, which included embassies by Walter Gropius in Athens, Edward Durrell Stone in New Delhi... View full entry
So says Nicolai Ouroussoff in his review of the recently released winning design, by the Philadelphia firm KieranTimberlake, for the State Department’s new embassy in London. NYT Previously View full entry
Even as the design itself, for all its airiness and crisp confidence, is hardly radical from a formal point of view -- it consists of a cube sheathed in a shimmering polymer scrim and resting on a ground-floor colonnade of concrete pillars -- it represents a major shift in how we think about the role of U.S. government architecture, both at home and abroad. It suggests putting an emphasis on action instead of values, measurable behavior rather than symbolic gestures. — latimes.com
The LA Times' Christopher Hawthorne reviews the new U.S. Embassy in London, designed by KieranTimberlake. View full entry
"We are building some of the ugliest embassies I've ever seen. We're building fortresses around the world. We're separating ourselves from people in these countries. I cringe when I see what we're doing." - John Kerry. Lots of people cringe when they think about the recent architecture of... View full entry
The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) announced that four architectural firms have been selected for the final phase of the design competition for the new United States Embassy in London. State Department View full entry
Thomas Mayne's Morphosis Architects, SOM, KPF and Richard Meier & Partners are among nine firms on the all-American shortlist to design Britain’s £275 million new US embassy. BD | previously | related View full entry
"War planning meets Sim City ... the architecture of manufactured, blast-resistant banality" - LA Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne reviews the US Embassy in Baghdad View full entry
