Heather Townsend reviews the scope and history of America’s embassies, from the 1797 consulate in Barcelona to the 275 missions currently operating in 190 countries, and presents a video, Another Language of Diplomacy, on the Design Excellence Program of the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) and General Service Administration (GSA). Casey Jones discusses the Design Excellence Program as a revitalization of the GSA’s original 1962 Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture after a period where security dominated all other issues. Christine Foushee engages Townsend and Jones in a discussion of how the OBO tries to encourage younger designers, embassies as public spaces, and how embassies can participate in local revitalization efforts.
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