The United States State Department announced on February 23 that it has chosen a cutting-edge, energy-efficient design by acclaimed US architecture firm KieranTimberlake for its future embassy in Britain.

美國國務院 2月23日宣布，已經選擇美國知名的KieranTimberlake建築師事務所，負責設計未來先進節能的駐英國大使館。

In other words, the US embassy is moving from its Mayfair mansion of 50 years to a new futuristic cube in Battersea, a project that is expected to cost a billion dollars. The new 12-storey building, carbon-neutral glass-sided structure in Wandsworth, south London, which will be able to house 1,000 staff, covers 45,000 square meters.

換句話說，美國大使館將從有50年歷史的梅菲爾大廈，搬到位於巴特西一棟新的未來主義立方體建築，總造價預料將達10億美元。新館是碳中和的玻璃結構體，樓高12層，位於倫敦南部溫德斯渥斯地區，這裡將可容納 1000名館員，占地45,000平方公尺。

The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based firm, founded in 1984, has made its mark in the architecture world with designs that aim to mesh inventive design with a sense of place and a focus on environmental sustainability. James Timberlake, of Kieran Timberlake, said: “It meets and exceeds all the security requirements. We are using elements of landscaping that have been around for centuries and centuries. But it's not a fortress. We are able to use the landscape as a security device. There's no wall and no fences.”

這家位於賓州費城的建築師事務所，創立於1984年，在建築界已經打出名號，以創新設計結合在地感並鎖定環境永續發展為目標。KieranTimberlake事務所的詹姆斯．丁伯萊克說：「新館達到並超越所有安全規定。我們利用已存在無數世紀的景觀元素，但它並非一座堡壘。我們可以充分利用現有的景觀，作為安全設施。沒有圍牆，也沒有圍籬。」

The building, a towering glass cube covered with a thin sheath of photo-voltaic cells “met the goal of creating a modern, timeless, safe and energy-efficient embassy for the 21st century,” the State Department said. “The concept holds the greatest potential for developing a truly iconic embassy and is on the leading edge of sustainable design.”

這棟高聳的玻璃立方體建築，外層包覆薄薄的聚光太陽能電池，「以落實創造一個現代化，超越時空，安全節能的21世紀大使館的目標，」美國國務院說。「這個概念具有發展成真正指標性大使館的最大潛能，在永續發展設計上也居領先優勢。」

The US embassy's existing building, located in central London's Grosvenor Square, has long been reviled as a concrete behemoth by its neighbors in the residential Mayfair neighborhood. By contrast, the new design is seen as comparatively airy and accessible, and seems less likely to clash with its surrounding in the Wandsworth community, on the south side of the River Thames. US officials said in a statement that the structure will be surrounded by a green expanse “honoring the English tradition of urban parks and gardens as the context for many civic buildings.” Construction gets underway in 2013, with the ribbon-cutting ceremony set for 2017.

美國大使館現有建築，位於倫敦市中心格洛斯維諾廣場，早已被附近梅菲爾住宅區批評，是個混凝土龐然大物。相形之下，新的設計被視為比較通風，也較方便，而且似乎比較不至於和位於泰晤士河南岸附近溫德斯渥斯社區起衝突。美國官員並在聲明中強調，新建築周圍將是一片廣袤的綠地，「遵循英國許多民用建築重視城市公園和花園的傳統。」新館將在2013年開工，2017年剪綵啟用。

The project as a whole is a fascinating study in how architecture can be used as a form of camouflage. The building is set in a spiraling pattern of two small meadows and a pond that have as much to do with defensive fortification as with pastoral serenity: an eye-opening expression of the irresolvable tensions involved in trying to design an emblem of American values when you know it may become the next terrorist target. It's hard to think of a project, in fact, that more perfectly reflects the country's current struggle to maintain a welcoming, democratic image while under the constant threat of attack.

整體而言，這項計畫是建築如何作為偽裝防護形式一項有趣的研究。新使館周遭有呈螺旋狀的兩個小草坪和一個水潭，除了可當防禦工事，也可以強調田園的寧靜：在試圖設計一個代表美國價值觀的地標時，明知它可能成為下一個恐怖攻擊目標，這棟建築表達了其中無法解決的緊張衝突，令人大開眼界。事實上，很難想像有任何建築，更充分反映美國當前的衝突，既要維持友善的民主形象，又經常遭到恐怖攻擊威脅。

The US State Department agreed to sell its current base in Grosvenor Square after it began showing “signs of wear and tear”. Louis Susman, US ambassador to the UK, said: “'We will replace our current embassy, which has become overcrowded, does not meet modern office needs and required security standards - and, after 50 years, is showing signs of wear and tear. This effort has special significance in that we are creating a new home and focal point for one of our most cherished and bilateral relationships.”

目前位於格洛斯維諾廣場舊址的使館，日久開始出現「耗損隳敗的跡象」後，美國國務院同意脫手出售。美國駐英國大使蘇斯曼說：「我們要汰換現有的大使館，它已經擁擠不堪，無法滿足現代辦公室的需求和安全標準規定。走過50年，它已經露出磨損隳敗的跡象。這項計畫具有特殊意義，因為我們正準備為我們最珍惜的雙邊關係，打造一個新的家和據點。」

The present embassy, a Modernist landmark by Eero Saarinen, is still regarded skeptically by critics. Its main facade, an intricate composition of limestone window frames, sits uncomfortably alongside the Georgian-style town houses. Yet the old embassy was also an effort to project a progressive cultural image abroad, at the height of the cold war. One entry led straight from the street up a broad staircase to a public library and an art gallery that showcased postwar American artists like Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler and Philip Guston. A longtime embassy employee remembers that security was so lax in the early days that a single guard stood at the door, supporting himself with a cane.

目前的老使館是建築師沙利南一棟具有歷史意義的現代建築作品，但仍遭論者批評。老使館正面由石灰岩窗框精細複雜的構成，坐落在喬治亞式排屋旁，總是顯得格格不入。但舊使館也是冷戰高峰時期，在海外投射美國進步文化形象的一個大櫥窗。使館一個入口，可以從街上直接登上寬廣的樓梯，到二樓公共圖書館和藝廊，這裡曾展出戰後美國藝術家像傑克森．波洛克及其妻李．克倫瑟，海倫．法蘭肯莎勒及菲力普．古斯頓的作品。一位長期任職大使館的職員還記得，早年安全措施十分寬鬆，只請一位拄著拐杖的警衛在門口站崗。

The use of architecture and art as tools of cold war propaganda was already on the wane by the end of the 1970s, when a lack of space forced embassy officials to shut down the gallery and transform the library into a waiting room for visa applicants. But it was completely abandoned in the aftermath of 9/11. A metal fence went up in front of the main entry stairs. Two small pavilions - their boxy Modernist forms apparently intended as a homage to Saarinen's original creation - were built out front to screen visitors.

利用建築和藝術作為冷戰宣傳工具，自上世紀70年代末開始逐漸式微。由於空間不夠，使館人員被迫關閉畫廊，並把圖書館改建成等候申請簽證的房間。但在9/11攻擊後已完全關閉停用。使館主入口樓梯前架起金屬圍欄。另建兩個顯然旨在紀念沙利南原創性現代主義方正格局的小亭子，主要用來過濾訪客。

The winning concept overcame stiff competition from some of the world's leading architecture firms, including Pei Cobb Freed and Partners -- the practice of I. M. Pei, architect of the Louvre Pyramid in Paris. Another top contender was the firm Richard Meier & Partners, designers of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Photo shows that future US embassy in Britain would be a “timeless” vision in glass.

KieranTimberlake是在經過激烈的競爭後出線，競爭者不乏世界首屈一指的建築師事務所，像貝柯佛合夥公司，也就是建造巴黎羅浮宮金字塔之華裔建築師貝聿銘的事務所。另一個頂尖競爭者是理查．邁耶建築師事務所，曾建造洛杉磯蓋提美術館。照片顯示未來美國駐英國的大使館，將是一棟「跨越時空」的玻璃建築。（法新社）