US Embassy, Wandsworth, London, UK, 2025.
All the pixels, none of the awkward diplomacy, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/54586230547/in/photostream/
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this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2025
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Captured with the Rodenstock 70mm/5.6 HR Digaron-W lens (@ f/8) lens, Phase One IQ4-150 digital back (@ ISO 50, 1/50 sec), Cambo WRS-5005 camera (Shifted vertically -19mm, horizontally -10mm). Cropped to a 4x5 aspect ratio.
The embassy's exterior "envelope" curtain forms an interesting abstract pattern that reminds me of the sound absorbing tiles that line recording studios and anechoic chambers. This photo shows the western-facing side.
The new US Embassy to the UK, completed in 2017, is a roughly cubically-shaped glass box covered on three sides with a semi-transparent textured Teflon "envelope" that aids in temperature regulation. Situated in a landscaped compound on the Thames between the Battersea Power Station and MI6's famous Vauxhall headquarters, it's one of the most distinctive recent structures on that part of London's South Bank.
Deigned by the Philadelphia architectural firm KieranTimberlake*, the chancery building incorporates a number of sustainable design elements, and has been generally well received (international politics aside) by staff and local residents. It replaced a mid-century modern structure (by Eero Saarinen, now being redeveloped as a hotel) in the more traditionally fancypants Grosvenor Square neighborhood.
Aside: Although the new embassy, which had been in the works for years, opened during the first Trump administration, he disliked the building so much that he refused to attend its official opening. Presumably not enough gold-leaf.
@mattblaze@federate.social this sounds like a good architectural pattern to follow...
Instead of architecting our cities and buildings against homelessness, we should architect against billionaires with poor taste
@mattblaze@federate.social No gold toilet...