January 2018 | Eyesore

Commentary on architectural blunders in monthly serial.

Behold, the new US Embassy in London, clocking in at $1 billion, a fortified borg-hive sporting a facade straight out of the 1964 World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows. Kind of a super high-tech Bowling-Trophy-on-Thames.

The Times of London tells it thusly:

The riverside embassy, described by British media as a “state-of-the-art fortress,” is set at least 100 feet from other buildings in the area. It is surrounded by a pond on one side to deter intruders — officials said it is not a moat because it does not surround the whole building. It will not have a perimeter fence and members of the public will be able to sit on benches overlooking the river. The building has triple-glazed, bomb-proof walls, sunken trenches, raised terraces and a Faraday cage — an enclosure that shields what’s inside from electric fields — to deter electronic eavesdroppers….

Thanks to Rick Schandall for the nomination!