OLIN’s landscape design is a synthesis of the U.S. government’s goals for performance, security, accessibility, and design excellence. With a team led by KieranTimberlake, OLIN crafted an embassy design that gives form to the core beliefs of democracy in a way that is at once secure and welcoming, and exceptional in its approach to innovative design. OLIN’s competition-winning landscape is a contemporary approach to the English tradition of urban parks and gardens as the context for civic buildings. The design’s spiraling walks and sculpted meadow terrains form the Embassy grounds, winding into the lobby and promenade overlooking a freshwater pond and the Thames to the north. The landscape design expresses these ideas formally but also through the selection of landscape materials. Within the building, the spiral continues up through interior gardens based on six significant American landscapes. Plants chosen for the project were selected based on species commonality between the United Kingdom and the U.S.—a result of their being brought by English settlers and explorers to the New World. The result is a true embodiment of the United States’ deep bond with the U.K., the embassy’s connection to the city and people of London, and the fundamental tenets of American democracy.
