Dwelling in Diplomacy: Designing a Permanent Place for a Temporary Community

Abstract

The U.S. Department of State deploys hundreds of American diplomats into embassies abroad. With temporary posts, diplomats and their families are transplanted into unfamiliar, foreign contexts. While protecting Americans abroad, this mobile and dynamic population attempts to find stability and security in a temporary environment. This thesis examines the crossroads of culture and architecture through the implementation of a new United States embassy in Algiers, Algeria. As diplomats and locals attempt to absorb one another’s culture, they can face a sense of displacement. U.S. embassies can expand from a purely political context to one that creates community between Americans and Algerians. It explores the built environment’s role in mitigating physical and social displacement and maintaining security. With globalization, preserving identity while blurring the boundaries between cultures becomes a challenge. By integrating community, foreign policy and security, architecture can create a platform for cultural assimilation resulting in a truly global society.