State Department Selects Architecture Firms for Global Diplomatic Projects
The U.S. Department of State has chosen ten architecture firms to provide comprehensive design services for diplomatic facilities worldwide over the next five years.
The U.S. Department of State has announced the selection of ten architecture firms to provide comprehensive architectural and engineering services for various diplomatic facilities worldwide. This decision follows a highly competitive two-stage process initiated in March 2024, which attracted over 100 submissions. The selected firms are:
- TenBerke
- Duvall Decker – Spacesmith (joint venture)
- Ennead Architects
- KieranTimberlake
- Krueck & Sexton Architects
- Lever Architecture
- Morphosis Architects
- REX Architecture
- Richärd Kennedy Architects
- SHoP Architects
- Thomas Phifer & Partners
- Weiss/Manfredi Architects
These firms will support the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) over the next five years in delivering secure and resilient diplomatic facilities. OBO stated that these regionally diverse firms will represent the United States as they deliver the next generation of diplomatic facilities. Their work will be central to OBO's mission to provide effective facilities for U.S. diplomacy abroad, ensuring the United States is safer, stronger, and more prosperous.
Several of the selected firms have prior experience with OBO projects. For instance, Weiss/Manfredi designed the new U.S. embassy in New Delhi, India, and KieranTimberlake completed the U.S. embassy in London. Ennead Architects has designed U.S. embassies in Ankara, Türkiye; Nogales, Mexico; and Chiang Mai, Thailand. Morphosis Architects designed the U.S. embassy compound in Beirut, Lebanon, while SHoP Architects is designing a new U.S. embassy in Milan. Richärd Kennedy Architects designed U.S. embassies in Doha, Qatar; Hermosillo, Mexico; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The OBO is currently soliciting responses for design/build construction services for a new embassy compound in Tallinn, Estonia, with responses due by April 13. Mark Cavagnero Associates serves as the Planning and Bridging Architect for this project, which has an estimated completion date of 2031.
Over the past two decades, the U.S. has constructed nearly 170 new diplomatic facilities worldwide, a program initiated in response to embassy bombings in 1998. The OBO, established in 2001, manages the planning, acquisition, design, construction, operations, maintenance, and disposal of U.S. diplomatic and consular properties overseas.
