EMBASSIES: Balancing Security, Visibility Takes U.S. Mission to Suburbs
Visibility has always played a role in locating and designing U.S. embassies and diplomatic missions throughout the world. But openness and accessibility, two traits of a democratic system that the U.S. government tries to convey through its missions, are becoming increasingly difficult to design for and build as government buildings become targets for terrorists. In Croatia, the State Dept. is solving the problem by relocating its aged, cramped and outdated mission from the center of Zagreb to the capital's outskirts.
The coming move has not pleased many of the embassy's staff and workers who are loath to abandon a convenient location, but the new structure promises a level of security that cannot now be delivered. The four-story, 8,000-sq-m concrete and steel structure is nearing completion on a 6-acre plot carved from a cornfield near Zagreb's airport.