Embassy of the United States of America, 42 Elgin Road, Dublin 4
Architects: John M. Johansen & Michael Scott
As a child I was dragged on annual pilgrimage to the Young Scientist Exhibition in leafy Ballsbridge. The content of these haphazard secondary school science exhibitions never stayed with me, but etched in my memory was the exciting glimpse of a futuristic building on the way home. This was the American Embassy and from the perspective of a child, this white, circular edifice looked as though it had just landed from the set of Close Encounters. It was radically unlike any of its redbrick Victorian neighbours and this was also in happier times when American embassies were not considered fair game by terrorists, so the fence that is there currently was actually an unobtrusive moat.
The scheme was built during an enlightened period when the American foreign policy was to design embassies with a projected perception of openness and invitation therefore promoting US culture abroad. Established international architects at the time, such as Eero Saarinen, Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer got the opportunity to build their proposals in cities around the world and Dublin was no different. During 1962 to 1964, American architect John M. Johansen, in collaboration with famed Irish architect Michael Scott, joined forces to create the American Embassy.
Completed just after JFK’s visit to Ireland, it is not the ambassador’s residence but the offices for the American diplomatic presence in Dublin. It sits proud in an awkward site at the corner of Elgin and Pembroke Road, fronting prominently onto both of these streets. The PR blurb of the embassy, which describes the collaborative design process, presents a delightful narrative in which the circular plan references ancient celtic ring forts and even the coastal Martello towers. But personally I prefer to think of that description as a spectacular example of architects post-rationalising the process. This is simply a successful modernist response to a troublesome triangular site.
The façade of the embassy is built up of prefabricated concrete modular elements. These twisted white forms tessellate into place and frame the bullet-proof glass behind. As a result of the circular plan, this same expression continues around the building creating a balanced and composed elevation from all approaches. Inside there is another three level circular arcade, like the outside, which surrounds the open central atrium. The doughnut floor slabs sit on top of these two circular arcades, minimising the amount of structure required and maximising the daylight through the windows or the atrium rooftop glazing. The building was very successful in using cutting edge technology such as cast forming concrete to express architecturally what the agenda for the office was; innovation, transparency and openness.
The American foreign service have recently announced that they are looking to move from their site in Ballsbridge as it is not longer fit for purpose. Who can forget the widely publicised photographs of the armour plated Cadillac stuck on the ramp during the recent visit of the leader of the free world. As it is a highly desirable site from a developer’s point of view, there is now a growing movement to have the building listed in order to protect it from what could happen if it came into private hands. Which in my view is really the direction that Dublin should be moving towards in order to protect its modernist gems. Hopefully somebody inspired will take the building on and remove the fence.
Laurence Lord is co-founder of AP+E (www.APplusE.eu) and is participating in the NewNowNext talk series with the Irish Architecture Foundation (www.architecturefoundation.ie) in June.
