From Pax America to American exceptionalism, American security and beyond: U.S. Legation building in Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACT Architecture’s ability to not only define a city’s identity but also to convey the values and aspirations of its builders continues to be its most lasting legacy. Great civic architecture, which has endured throughout the ages, becomes cultural property, which is codified for protection as “World Heritage Sites.” This article presents the challenges and the opportunities of designing a new U.S. Embassy in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil and a World Heritage Site. Built in 1960, the current embassy was designed to convey collaboration with the USA and its host country by following the planners’ modernist design vision. The new embassy will have to be designed for counterterrorism, convey democratic ideals, and not undermine the cultural property value of the World Heritage Site. Through an examination of the Department of State’s history of legation building, the paper concludes by proposing ways that respond to the cultural diversity in Brasilia.