Since 1999, the US has applied a program to construct embassies (Capital Safety Building Program), estimated at 21 billion USD. The principle aim of this program is to supply a protected work atmosphere for workers, and a lot of the focus is on constructing various embassy services.
This system was launched after two bombings occurred at nearly the identical time on the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya on August 7, 1998. In 2001, the U.S. Division of State’s Bureau of Abroad Operations (OBO) carried out structural reforms to accommodate this embassy constructing program.
In reality, this system has attracted contributions from famend architectural corporations, together with Studio Gang (Brasília) and Morphosis (Beirut) to KieranTimberlake (London) and Weiss/Manfredi (New Delhi).
In 2010, John Kerry, then Chairman of the US Senate International Relations Committee, signed into regulation the Embassy Design and Safety Act, specializing in the embassy design program. The regulation may even encourage environmentally pleasant development practices, utilizing progressive analysis to use new concepts, cost-effective options and know-how to all new services.
In 2016, OBO awarded a contract to BL Harbert Worldwide to supply development and design companies for the brand new US Embassy campus in Niamey, Niger. This undertaking is accomplished in 2020.
In 2017, the US broke floor on a brand new embassy in Beirut, designed by Culver Metropolis, California, by Morphosis Architects. The US Division of State goals to finish the undertaking by 2022. The overall undertaking funds is 1.03 billion USD.
New US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon
In January 2017, the US State Division additionally introduced a contract to construct a brand new US embassy in Ankara, Turkey. This continues to be part of OBO’s embassy constructing program (Capital Safety Building Program).
New US Embassy in Guatemala
Additionally in 2017, OBO introduced a contract to construct Guatemala’s new embassy campus, which began in April 2018. The undertaking is anticipated to be accomplished in the summertime of 2022. The undertaking creates jobs for greater than 900 staff throughout development, and is estimated to contribute about $25 million to the Guatemalan economic system in 2018.
By 2018, the US began development of a brand new embassy in Mexico, with an funding of about $943 million.
The US Embassy in Mexico. Picture: Courtesy Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects
In 2020, the US additionally began development of a brand new embassy in Casablanca, Morocco, with a complete funding 300 million USD. The undertaking will likely be handed over in 2024, anticipated to create jobs for about 500 folks throughout development.
Most just lately, the US introduced that it will construct a brand new headquarters of the US Embassy in Vietnam, with a scale of 39,000 m2.2 on an space of 3.2 hectares. The corporate accountable for the structure of this billion-dollar constructing is EYP Structure & Engineering, based mostly in Washington DC This US Embassy advanced has an funding of as much as 1.2 billion USD.
Concerning the campus, Ambassador Pham Quang Vinh – Former Deputy Minister of International Affairs, former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Plenipotentiary of Vietnam to the US, mentioned: “There are small concepts, however it isn’t simple. If you cannot discover a appropriate campus, when Hanoi is growing and crowded, however as a way to put embassies and diplomatic missions, and now increase the bar, it normally must be someplace appropriate, excellent. Being shut sufficient to the middle, handy, and having sufficient space, house, atmosphere and safety shouldn’t be simple.”
As well as, a notable level within the new US embassy development initiatives is Sustainability. Inexperienced diplomacy has lengthy been in OBO paperwork, in addition to showing in most fashions of embassy buildings.
That is additionally acknowledged as a US effort to handle local weather change, because the designs embody a solar energy system together with on-site wastewater remedy. Designs for a lot of different areas additionally incorporate rainwater harvesting, with all techniques assembly “net-zero water” requirements.
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