Germany Embassy

At the end of a quiet street in the Reservoir Road residential area, this building, intended to house the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Washington, is a clear example of mass balance and of the results that can be achieved by using steel clad with non-combustible materials. The author of the project is the architect Eiermann, who also designed the German pavilion at the Brussels Exhibition in 1958. He succeeded in solving two fundamental problems: the insertion of a public building in a street destined for a residential area, and relating the profile of the building to that of a steep hill. To achieve this, he designed the building as a long, narrow building, oriented perpendicularly to the street, and arranged its different levels in such a way that they descend in steps, recalling the “shape” of a hill. The embassy's activities are located in the rear and side areas, while the centre of the block was intended to house the ambassador's residence. Both the balconies and the screens, which act as diffusers and filters of direct sunlight, as well as a number of other functional attributes, such as the provision of emergency exits, elements to facilitate the cleaning of the façade enclosures, correct graduation of sunlight, etc., are typical of the architect Eiermann. Al final de una calle tranquila, en la zona residencial Reservoir Road, ha sido erigido este edificio, destinado a sede la Embajada de la República Federal Alemana en Washington, claro exponente de equilibrio de masas y de los resultados que pueden lograrse mediante el empleo de acero revestido con materiales incombustibles. El autor del proyecto es el arquitecto Eiermann, creador también del pabellón alemán de la Exposición de Bruselas en 1958. Ha conseguido resolver dos problemas fundamentales: la inserción de un edificio público en una calle destinada a zona residencial y el relacionar el perfil del edificio con el de una colina escarpada.