So here's the winning design for the new $1bn US Embassy in Nine Elms.The Financial Times says:
The decision, announced last night by Louis Susman, US ambassador to London, will result in a building that is environmental both in terms of energy efficiency and improvements to the post-industrial landscape of one of London's last undeveloped city-centre sites.
The crystalline second skin of the design shades the interior from the sun and converts its rays into power through the use of embedded gossamer-fine photovoltaic cells, in one of the many measures to make this an exemplary green building.
The glazed box sits atop a colonnade intended to create a feeling of civic engagement and openness that has been lacking in US embassies and was one of the reasons that the state department decided to vacate its Grosvenor Square building.
The Guardian has an article about the disagreements within the panel that selected the design under the heading Ambassador, you are spoiling our view of the Thames with this boring glass cube.
D'oh! Beat me to it on this one.
ReplyDeleteA cube sitting on a circle, wow. The design doesn't strike me as particularly aesthetic, maybe it's a lack of golden ratios, or unfamiliarity with the form. There aren't many cubic buildings around, I would assume because of the lack of windows at the center. Maybe this one has lightwells to deal with that issue.
Still - I can't help but think every first draft of a planning application is a red herring. By the time residents see the final product (intended all along), they are relieved it isn't the monstrosity initially proposed and feel they've won a victory. Or is that overly cynical?
It is not bad proposal at the end. It passes with flying colours if compared with St.George Wharf at Vauxhall cross.
ReplyDeleteAt least they brought some architect to design it. Access to the riverside is all what I was asking for and they delivered.
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