Advisor: Herwig Baumgartner
Partner: Elliott Freeman

This project challenges the idea of an Embassy and its arrangement. The brief called for a 125, 000 square foot US embassy on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. It not only would have to serve the bureaucratic affairs of the embassy, but act as a center for public events and culture. It had to have art gallery space and also an auditorium to seat a large audience.

To drive the design aesthetic, we were encouraged to explore part to whole relationships - where autonomous objects begin to interact with each other. As the notion of an embassy deals with security, a division had to be established between public and private space. The central object in the project was how this was managed - having the auditorium and gallery spaces being placed there. The surrounding three buildings were then where office spaces and private areas resided.