On March 10, the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Overseas Building Operations announced that four architecture firms have been chosen for the final round of the competition to design the new U.S. Embassy in London. The finalists?KieranTimberlake, Richard Meier & Partners, Morphosis Architects, and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners?were chosen from a short list of nine U.S. firms that had been invited in January to participate in the second round of the design competition. (By law, the lead designer for U.S. embassies must be an American firm.) The firms will present 3-D models of their designs to the jury in November.
London Embassy Design Jury
– James Carpenter, founder, James Carpenter Design Associates
– Frances Halsband, founder, Kliment Halsband Architects
– Thomas Hicks, vice president of international policy and programs, U.S. Green Building Council
– Peter Palumbo, chairman, Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury
– Michaele Pride, director, University of Cincinnati School of Architecture and Interior Design
– Richard Rogers, founder, Rogers Stirk Harbour Partners
– Peter Rolland, founder, Rolland/Towers
– Clyde Taylor, former U.S. ambassador to Paraguay
Other Firms on the Short List
– Gwathmey Siegel & Associates
– Kallmann McKinnell & Wood
– Kohn Pedersen Fox
– Perkins+Will
– Skidmore, Owings & Merrill