ARCHITECTURE REVIEW
A New Fort, er, Embassy, for London
The New York Times
By NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF
Published: February 23, 2010
LONDON The State Departments announcement on Tuesday that it had selected a design by the Philadelphia firm KieranTimberlake for its new embassy in London was not exactly uplifting news.
The proposed building a bland glass cube clad in an overly elaborate, quiltlike scrim is not inelegant by the standards of other recent American Embassies, but it has all the glamour of a corporate office block. It makes you wonder if the architects had somehow mistaken the critic Reyner Banhams famous dismissal of the embassys 1960 predecessor on Grosvenor Square monumental in bulk, frilly in detail as something to strive for.
The project as a whole, however, is a fascinating study in how architecture can be used as a form of camouflage. The building is set in a spiraling pattern of two small meadows and a pond that have as much to do with defensive fortification as with pastoral serenity: an eye-opening expression of the irresolvable tensions involved in trying to design an emblem of American values when you know it may become the next terrorist target.
Its hard to think of a project, in fact, that more perfectly reflects the countrys current struggle to maintain a welcoming, democratic image while under the constant threat of attack.
Architecture Review - A New U.S. Fort, er Embassy, for London, Moat Included - NYTimes.com
Interesting comment on our times. Significant improvement on the old embassy though.
