new U.S. embassy, london by kierantimberlake

philadelphia-based architecture firm kierantimberlake, has been selected to design
the new american embassy in london. the announcement was made yesterday by
the united states department of state. construction is set to begin in 2013, and the new
embassy is planned for completion by 2017. the project will cost approximately
500 million USD.

the design places the embassy building at the center of the nine elms site and develops
the surrounding area into an urban park. it also meets security standards while honoring
the english tradition of urban parks and gardens as the context for many civic buildings.

there are two major east-west pedestrian and vehicular paths, one existing and one to be
improved, and the other proposed as part of the enabling infrastructure for development.
the existing infrastructure is along the south thames embankment and is composed of
a river walk paralleled by nine elms lane. the proposed new infrastructure to the south
of the embassy site is a pedestrian greenway that will connect the embassy site to
vauxhall station, the nearest tube stop to the east, and on to the proposed new battersea
developments to the west. poised strategically midway between these parallel paths,
the embassy becomes part of an urban park that connects the thames embankment to
the new pedestrian way to the south.


U.S. embassy, london

the paving about and within the embassy site utilizes the familiar limestone used in
many london walks and parks. the embassy park contains a pond with walkways,
places to sit and landscape along its edges, all open to the citizens of london. trees
near the pond are to be north american species, such as the weeping willow and the bald
cypress.

viewed from the north at the proposed plaza, the embassy grounds will provide
the prospect of an open park, a landscape of grasses rising gracefully to the new
embassy colonnade, with the required secure boundaries incised into the hillside
and out of view. instead of a perimeter-walled precinct, the site to the north and south
is a welcoming urban amenity, a park for the city that fuses the new embassy to
the city of london.

the connections to the surrounding urban context, both existing and proposed, begin
in an open geometry well beyond the site at the thames embankments and the proposed
vauxhall-to-battersea pedestrian way.

the walks and landscape forms begin their inward spiral at the outer boundaries of
the site. they sweep past the pond to the entry court that opens to the main lobby for
staff and their guests. at the opposite side of the main lobby, the gallery spirals down
to the north culminating in the large multi-purpose hall that merges with the grade
of the spiraling consular walk above.

at the main entry, the site spiral continues beyond to the great arc of the consular garden,
carrying the visitor up the consular walk and into the consular lobby and promenade
overlooking the pond and the thames embankment to the north.



internal gardens continue vertically within the new embassy as the spiral continues
upward about the core toward an ever more focused, secure and enclosed center atop
the structure. these gardens provide places to meet and additional vertical circulation.
the plantings for each garden are chosen for their capacity to thrive in specific
orientations, for their representation of the diversity of the american landscape and for
the appropriateness of each type to its use.

the chancery is a transparent, crystalline cubic form atop a colonnade. the crystalline
form is simultaneously efficient and evocative. it represents the optimum ratio of maximum
volume within minimum perimeter with resulting cost and energy management benefits.
its precise dimensions have been selected to afford the optimum distance for visitors
and occupants to daylight and view. its surface is given form through the interface between
a faceted external solar shading and collection system and the blast resistant glazing.

this crystal-like ethylene-tetrafluroethylene (ETFE) scrim has been optimized to shade
interiors from east, west and south sun while admitting daylight and framing large open
view portals to the outside. Its pattern visually fragments the façade while it intercepts
unwanted solar gain and transforms it into energy by means of thin film photovoltaics
positioned in the ETFE foils. the design of this scrim works vertically, horizontally
and diagonally to eliminate directionality from the building's massing. the scrim also
renders the largely transparent façades visible to migratory birds to discourage bird-strikes.


the lobby



at each façade, an ETFE enclosed pressurized air pocket further insulates the glazing
from thermal transfer.

the top of the building is sheathed with a crystalline photovoltaic array on the entire roof,
screening mechanical equipment from view. the total array of crystalline and thin-film
photovoltaic on the building measures 8,300 square meters with a significant output
of over 345,000 kWh of energy.


a four-sided colonnade forms the base of the building
all images by studio amd

rather than employing a plinth to accommodate the large programs located at the lowest
levels of the building, the colonnade sits atop a gently rising earthen mound. within
this landscape form are parking garage ramps and basement service and mechanical
areas to the south, and the lower level of the gallery and multi-purpose meeting space
to the north and west.




project team:
the team included olin as landscape architect; arup for sustainability, MEP/FP and civil
engineering; weidlinger associates for structural and blast engineering; gensler for
workplace design; davis langdon for cost consulting; and sako & associates for technical
security.