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| Photo from U.S. Consulate Guayaquil's website |
The U.S. Consulate in Guayaquil, Ecuador, has moved to a new location, and apparently that's it in the photo above.
In case you are wondering about that small "c" in parentheses in the image, it's merely a copyright mark and not a classification marking. Of course it isn't a classification marking, because the building's exterior is in the public view and not classifiable.
But on second thought, maybe that photo and any others like it should be classified, because I can't believe the Consulate wants anybody to see that monstrosity of a building. I'm partial to fortresses and all, but really, that one is making me get in touch with the architect within me, and he thinks the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) should tear that thing down and start over.
Honest to Jane Loeffler, that is a strange and ugly building!
Here's OBO's press release:
In an important symbol of our commitment and enduring relationship with Ecuador, U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador, Adam E. Namm, presided over the dedication of the new U.S. Consulate General in Guayaquil today.
The new multi-building complex provides employees with a safe, secure, and modern workplace. Situated on an 11.25-acre site in the San Eduardo neighborhood, the new Consulate General includes a new office building, two access pavilions, a service/utility building, and parking.
The $66.5 million project incorporates numerous sustainable features to conserve resources and reduce operating costs, including an energy recovery unit that reduces the need for heating and cooling, water-conserving plumbing fixtures, and the use of regional and recycled materials.
The facility was designed by Page Southerland Page, LLC of Arlington, Virginia and constructed by Contracting Consulting and Engineering, LLC of Annapolis, Maryland.
Since 1999, as part of the Department’s Capital Security Construction Program, the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) has completed 109 new diplomatic facilities and has an additional 36 projects in design or under construction.
OBO’s mission is to provide safe, secure, and functional facilities that represent the U.S. government to the host nation and support our staff in the achievement of U.S. foreign policy objectives. These facilities should represent American values and the best in American architecture [sic, believe it or not], engineering, technology, sustainability, art, culture, and construction execution.
OBO's press kit for the project is currently mixed up, and the link for New Consulate Guayaquil's fact sheet takes you to New Embassy Benin.
That's too bad, because I'd like to find out how much OBO paid to Page Southerland Page, LLC of Arlington, Virginia to design that place. Considering that the total project cost was only $66.5 million, or less than half of what a typical new embassy or consulate costs, I'm guessing the design end was practically an afterthought.
Now I'll spend the rest of the day shaking off the inanity of that image.
23 comments:
Holy Smokes. PSP has done a ton of University of Texas bldgs and my father did a bunch of those as masonry contractor in the 70's and 80's. Just google Ernest Cockrell Hall UT images. That will give you a good idea of their institutional work especially around Austin.
Aesthetics aside, my father's and my experience with PSP as subbers and generals has been very good. Clear and concise sets of bid documents and very good field work.
In fairness to PSP, the building in Guayaquil is not new construction from the ground up, but was an existing building that was acquired and re-fitted as the consulate. A lot of the old building must still be there.
OBO really cheaped out on that one. I guess they're saving their money for London.
I knew James would have something intelligent to say about this building. Holy Jane Loeffler is right! I'm gonna read her article on fortress embassies. gwb
I don't know GWB, that building looks like a place of confinement. Whether to keep people in or out I can't determine. The architectural detail ( canopy, leisure space, etc) looks like something blown in from the Pacific and hasn't been cleaned up yet. I see a part of another, probably at an entrance. I guess it is to disguise the fact the building is a big box of strange color. Kinda of like serving an expensive wine at a showing of Soviet propaganda art.
TSB: Here is an impressive tweet! Keep that optimism rolling. gwb
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2014/02/20140210_WTF.png
James: That structure is clearly the wing part of a flying car. You back the car part into it in an emergency and fly senior staff to the airport. It also serves as a sun-shade for the corner offices and a make-shift soccer goal. gwb
This Consulate was originally intended to be a retrofit of an old cement factory but problems with the foundation led them to have to tear the entire thing down and build anew. Since they had already ordered a lot of parts to fit the old building design/shape, they had to be incorporated into the new standard fortress embassy designs-- thus the weird narrow windows on the ground floor. And if you think that's bad, you should have seen the neighborhood it was in-- not a nice place and slums just across the street, though I believe a lot of them have been cleared out now.
I worked in the old Consulate years ago, which was terrible and crumbling around us. This project was supposed to have been finished during my tour and ended up being done about four years later than intended, by my calculation.
Anonymous,
Thanks very much for your comment! I was hoping someone from post might add some information. The new office building is presumably fully functional office space, so it must be a big improvement over the old one.
I remember the old Consulate from working TDYs there, but that was way back around 1987 or '88 or maybe '89, and I haven't been back since. I still have fond memories of the Oro Verde Hotel that is (was?) across the street.
Green Gold eh TSB? I suspect a somewhat colorful past.
James: What goes on TDY, stays TDY. Vegas got that saying from us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSt0NEESrUA
Time for a post on colorful landmarks from yesteryear? gwb
TSB: "What goes on TDY, stays TDY."
Well' that explains the guy in the Eisenstein sketch. Heh.
James: Details of that sketch are hard to make out from the image, but it shows a handsome intelligent-looking gentleman seen through a page of a newspaper (Ce Soir, which was a leftist French daily from the 1930s to the '50s) and is titled "rond-de-cuir" (the French term for a petty bureaucrat, literally, "pencil-pusher"). I think it's a good likeness of me.
TSB: Add a black flat brimmed hat with those hands and you've got Father Guido Sarducci.
GWB: Staying warm where you're at?
If not;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h7X0QyhonE
James: You're right. Something about the glasses is very Sarducci-esque. It would be ever better if he was smoking a cigarette.
Speaking of Sarducci, did you ever read his book of letters to and from celebrities, "The Lazlo Letters"? Pretty funny stuff.
"Speaking of Sarducci, did you ever read his book of letters to and from celebrities, "The Lazlo Letters"? Pretty funny stuff." No, but I'm on the hunt for it as I speak. The last sketch I remembering seeing him in was when he bought the tab for "The Lassa Brunch" from a mexican relic dealer. " Twelve Eggs Benedict and one softa boiled egg!".
That Father Sarducci character was the only part of the old SNL that really stayed with me. I get even more in tune with his sensibility as time goes by. I even bought a Bocce ball set because he recommended Bocce as a gentleman's sport - "no running around like an animal" he said.
James: I'm all for the Sarducci upgrade for the TSB photo. The biggest problem I see is the guy is too funny and nobody would read the posts. gwb
TSB: re your twitter on Mr. Breivak, they should play "MacArthur Park" by Richard Harris 24/7 for his enjoyment.
GWB: Now I visualize TSB's reaction to the newest consulate design thusly;
http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/zp3aAvorZcw/hqdefault.jpg
James: Hey, did you think of MacArthur Park because of Guido Sarducci's Italian language version of that song? Because that's what I thought of; I've been googling his videos today.
"Tutto il dolce glassa verde che scorre verso il basso" ... such a lovely image.
TSB: Did I think of Father Guido and MacArthur Park at the same time? No, but now I've got a bad case of the giggles.
Oh God, not another of those who wants to work in a fortess guttersnipes! Having served in posts that made Tehran look secure one can only hope that all future consulates and embassies have less security than Benghazi, so that all our diplomats can experience the true warmth and habbits of the locals.
May all your future assignments be in welcoming posts with a minimum of security provisions.
Anonymous,
Thanks for your comment and perspective. At which posts have you served, if you wouldn't mind my asking?
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