Almost a decade after the U.S. Department of State ran a design competition to select an architect, the new American Embassy—or Chancery—in London by Philadelphia-based KieranTimberlake is set to open. The 12-story glass cube rises to 213 feet and wears a veil of sculptural smocking on three of its four sides. The cube, which contains more than 500,000 square feet of space, is set according to the cardinal points of the compass on a plinth partially buried in landscaped gardens. The plinth and the gardens—along with a large pond and various other artfully concealed obstructions—act as the building’s physical security cordon.
Including the land, the cost of this strategically important new overseas outpost is $1 billion—or alternatively nothing, since that money was raised by the sale of other U.S. property in London. The prime asset is the soon-to-be-decommissioned embassy in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, a part of town where land values are sky-high. The 1960 building designed by Eero Saarinen—complete with its imposing, centrally placed gilded-aluminum bald eagle by sculptor Theodore Roszak, with a wingspan of 35 feet—is destined to be converted into a luxury hotel designed by David Chipperfield.
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