The winning design by KieranTimberlake for the new American Embassy in London.
The entire glass cube, which sits on a colonnaded base, is conceived as a kind of high-efficiency solar collector, with all four sides covered in a second skin of pillowlike panels of […] a high-tech plastic. On the south, east and west facades, which will receive the most direct sunlight, the panels are covered with photovoltaic cells and supported by a lightweight cable-and-strut frame. The north facade shade is a simpler skin designed to deflect heat from the interiors.
The abundance of green space contributes to the design’s environmentally friendly image. […] But the real function of these landscape elements is to serve as camouflaged security barriers. The northern pond is a reflecting pool—but also a castle moat. To the south, a concrete wall frames the outer edge of the lower meadow, which can be patrolled by guards.
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