The unveiling of a new Embassy on the site of the previous building in Washington D.C is displaying Australia’s long-standing relationship with the USA.
The environmentally-sensitive design, led by Melbourne-based architects Bates Smart, directly references the distinctive Australian landscape: bright, open and clear with natural lighting, warm materiality, and vast internal scale. The use of these associations has created a building that is enduring, as well as welcoming for employees, visitors, and guests at regular functions.
Having recently been responsible for another of the country’s major embassies in Jakarta, Aurecon was appointed as the structural and building services engineer for the embassy in Washington, working in close collaboration with the architects.
All electric and sustainable
The expansive glass atrium and ground floor art gallery featuring Australian Indigenous artists forms the central hub that draws light into the building.
The project also achieved a 4-Star Green Star rating through the Green Building Council of Australia. It is the only building in the world to achieve dual LEED and Green Star ratings.
Prior to the embassy project, a crosswalk of interchangeable data between the two rating tools hadn’t existed: some certification bodies already had this for other rating systems to reduce the paperwork involved in achieving multiple certifications simultaneously. On this project, Aurecon worked with the GBCA to design the first LEED/Green Star crosswalk, which may be made available to other international projects.
