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PROJECT REPORT: HOTELS, RESTAURANTS & BARS
BUILDING ON A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP The former Embassy building in Grosvenor Square was designed by Eero Saarinen between 1957-1960, at the height of US-UK diplomatic collaboration © Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Balthazar Korab Archive at the Library of Congress
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A well-insulated Metsec subframe now runs in front of the new posts around the perimeter of the building, which has been equipped with MVHR systems
measures, including thermally upgraded facades, delivered a 20%+ improvement on Part L compliance in terms of carbon emissions, enabling the building to become the fi rst fi ve-star hotel in the UK to achieve a BREEAM Outstanding rating for sustainability. Ryan Butterfi eld, project architect at
DCA said: “Many of the BREEAM credits were achieved with seemingly invisible architectural provisions: enough basement space for larger, more effi cient plant equipment, water effi cient vacuum drainage, biodiverse rooftop garden planting, and detailed tracking and monitoring of waste and recycling streams during construction.”
Nerve centre
Grosvenor Square in Mayfair has always had a strong association with the US, during the Second World War Macdonald House at number 20 functioned as the nerve centre for the country’s armed forces in the UK. Saarinen’s embassy, constructed across the full length of the western side of the square, exemplifi ed a US post-war mission to ‘engender good will’ in host nations by creating distinctive architecture designed to be accessible, distinguishably American, but also to harmonise with the surroundings. A fi ne example of mid-century modernism, the building is notable for its strongly-articulated design, dynamic chequerboard facade with ‘O’-shaped window surrounds and fi nely detailed
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stonework. The scheme was developed in collaboration with UK executive architects Yorke, Rosenberg and Mardall, with FJ Samuely as structural engineers. Adaptive reuse has become a trend with Saarinen’s buildings, his bird-like terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York was resuscitated as a hotel in 2019 following an extensive renovation by Beyer Blinder Belle. More recently, another former US Embassy in Oslo was transformed into a mixed-use offi ce complex.
When it opened in 1960, Saarinen’s US diplomatic base in the UK proved controversial from the start. The blocky white facade contrasted with the surrounding Georgian architecture, even though it was intended to darken over time to blend more harmoniously with local buildings. Critic Reyner Banham called it “monumental in bulk, frilly in detail.” Even Saarinen himself expressed some doubts, saying: “In my own mind the building is much better than the English think – but not quite as good as I wished it to be.” Political events deepened negative sentiment towards the building. In 1968 it was the focus of violent anti-Vietnam war protests and 200 people were arrested. After the attack on the twin towers in 2001, a series of anti-terrorist devices were installed around the embassy and the road running along the front was completely closed to traffi c, quashing the architect’s original intention – which was to promote a degree
ADF SEPTEMBER 2026
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