The State Dept. is pushing ahead with plans to embrace “design excellence” in its embassy construction program, using some elements for a new U.S. embassy in London, now in design, and fleshing out details through a series of documents that will spell out specific Design Excellence program guidelines.
The department's Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO), which manages the construction program, announced the Design Excellence effort in April 2010, when it issued general “guiding principles.” The principles draw on recommendations of a 2009 American Institute of Architects task force.