United states Embassy—Beijing
US Embassy Beijing
LOCATION
Beijing, China
CLIENT
United States Department of State
Completion Date
2008
Architect
Criag Hartman of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, San Francisco
TypE
Parks and Gardens
Civic Landscapes
Campuses
Workplace
Government
Description
PWP's design for the 40,000-square-meter site mixes Eastern and Western garden elements in a fashion suitable for an embassy. Eastern elements include wooden bridges, a traditional lotus pond, various antique Chinese pavements, plantings of Chinese weeping willows, and clusters of traditional water-formed stones. Western elements include a raised grass circle with a cluster of low trees and the embassy flagpole, a fountain of oxygen jets, rows of American elms, and circular beds of American roses. The compound—which holds a cafeteria, gym, various recreation and seating areas, and groves of bamboo, paperbark maple, and lacebark pines—is surrounded by a continuous stone and concrete wall. Outside the wall is smooth; inside it is planted with Parthenocissus tricuspidata vines. Directly behind the wall lies a pool that surrounds the embassy buildings and acts as a moat.
