US Consulate

As part of a design-build partnership, KCCT master-planned and provided architectural and interior design for the eight-building program on this sloping site. In addition to the new chancery, the campus includes multiple support buildings and a Marine Security Guard Residence. Stepping weirs and a large water retention pond are featured at the street side of the site, with the field stone masonry used to minimize the appearance of security elements. Consular facilities, parking garages, and shop and utility buildings are depressed into the sloping grade to reduce the scale of the facility and separate circulation paths. Intensively planted courtyards and roof terraces with stone walls make creative use of local plant materials for a dynamic outdoor environment.

This project was notable for innovations in native landscaping, site and building integration, new strategies for consular operations, creative stormwater management, sensitive treatment of the site perimeter, and the use of both horizontal and vertical blocking and stacking in a long, narrow building. With the site at the base of the mountain range subject to periodic flooding and stormwater runoff, terraced stormwater retention ponds were designed to capture and manage runoff on-site, with the reduction of on-site paving further minimizing runoff. This economically delivered consulate created a model of flexible and efficient consular operations for one of the busiest consulates in the world, accommodating up to 400,000 consular applications per year.