The call for proposals asked for a building that was modern, welcoming, timeless, safe and energy efficient. 37 architectural firms responded, submitting their designs and soon the pool was narrowed to four for the final phase of the competition. Ultimately Louis B. Susman, the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom announced that the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations has selected Philadelphia-based firm Kieran Timberlake to design London’s new United States Embassy.
Artist rendering: Kieran Timberlake's design for U.S. Embassy in London
Known for their unique and innovative approach to designing environmentally sound, energy efficient buildings Kieran Timberlake unveiled their vision of the embassy to decidedly lukewarm responses last week. In stark contrast to the embassy’s current address in London’s tiny Mayfair neighborhood, the new embassy is sited for development on a lot in a gritty, former-industrial location near the Thames, currently known for its proliferation of gay bars. With unfavorable comparisons to a Rubik’s Cube and a modern-day fortress, the building was a bit of a hard sell, especially to London residents. The lot is almost five acres in size and the building itself is a large glass-skinned cube positioned on an angle to the surrounding streets. A semicircular pond will act as a protective moat along the Thames side, while elaborate landscaping on the south side will act as a defensive “stand off zone”, protecting the building from potential car or truck bombs. A complex envelope of blast-resistant glass and a polymer skin (known as ETFE) will provide both security and energy efficiency while offering shade to the building on the sun-exposed sides. The building, among it’s other green features, is carbon neutral, and may actually return power to the UK grid.
Kieran Timberlake's plans for the U.S. Embassy on the Thames
Artist's Rendering: Kieran Timberlake's design for U.S. Embassy in London
Artist's Rendering: Kieran Timberlake's design for U.S. Embassy cafeteria
Artist's Rendering: Kieran Timberlake's design for U.S. Embassy Lobby
The subtext of the building’s design is the very real terrorist threat that the embassy faces. The topic is an uneasy one, especially for Londoners for whom the subway bombings of 2005 feel like a recent memory. The very real danger of ground explosion and car-bombings have put the need for safety and defensive capabilities ahead of all other design considerations. Despite the importance of these measures it is undeniable that security assets present aesthetic drawbacks. Most glaringly it seems that the need for defense has forced a design which fails to create an image of the American Embassy as being welcoming, open or even inviting. The 30-meter wide “stand off zone” makes the somewhat uninspired cubic design even more noticeable, and the water feature does little to discourage comparisons to a medieval fortress. The stand off zone is known in the architectural world as a Hostile Vehicle Mitigator, essentially a space that reaches far enough for a car bomb to go off and do no damage to the building. The landscaped design also boasts armored trees; trees that are capable of absorbing steel bars and can help stop or at least detain any rogue vehicle. The glass skin of the building is described by the architects as “quite robust” although officials on the project are keeping quiet about many of the buildings other defensive features in order to avoid any breaches in security.
Disapproval has already manifested itself in unofficial grumblings as well as a more formal complaint filed by two British members of the selection committee who derided the building as decidedly not up to world-class standards and a poor representation of the United States in Britain.
In October of 2008, the U.S. government announced its intention to move out of its current location in Grosvenor Square in the tony community of Mayfair. The change in location is almost as significant to the embassy as its new design. U.S interests have been headquartered in the same location since the late 18th century when John Adams, the first United States minister to the Court of St. James, lived in a house there from 1785 to 1788. The current embassy, designed by Eero Saarinen opened in 1960 and is something of a cultural landmark.
Current US Embassy in London, designed by Eero Saarinen
However it’s age and its recent overcrowding have presented considerable difficulties, as has its too-close proximity to residential streets. Heightened security measures following terrorist attacks on other U.S. embassies led to increasing frustration on the part of Mayfair residents who felt the embassy was taking a significant toll on their quality of life. The government has since sold the Grosvenor Square property to Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company, headquartered in Doha, Qatar.
