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.

kierantimberlake: U.S. embassy, london 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.

kierantimberlake: U.S. embassy, london

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.

kierantimberlake: U.S. embassy, london the lobby

kierantimberlake: U.S. embassy, london

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.

kierantimberlake: U.S. embassy, london 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.