JUSTYNA KOLARZ-PIOTROWICZ* ‘ARCHITECTURAL DIPLOMACY’: LOCAL AND NATIONAL SHADES OF EMBASSIES’ ARCHITECTURE Abstract What is ‘architectural diplomacy’? How can it be defined? What are its attributes? These questions are related to the answers sought by Rem Koolhaas of this year’s La Biennale di Venezia (and the Charter of Stockholm) at the INTBAU conference. Both the local and national contexts of the host country – as well as the national context of the representative country – are the starting point of the design process. The first one is emphasized by the design method applied in Berlin – according to ‘Critical Reconstruction’. The second one is based on ‘Critical Regionalism’, which is illustrated by the design examples of embassies in the Tiergarten area of Berlin; these incorporate the interpretation of national signs. Dutch methods of national, local, and global references were analyzed according to embassies in Berlin, Warsaw, Addis Ababa, and Rome. Keywords: architectural diplomacy, design embassy, diplomatic outpost, national identity, globalization, la Biennale di Venezia, Rem Koolhaas In 1914, it made sense to talk about a ‘Chinese’ ar- global’ and ‘national identity has seemingly been sacri- chitecture, a ‘Swiss’ architecture, an ‘Indian’ architecture. ficed to modernity’.3 One hundred years later, under the influence of wars, di- verse political regimes, different states of development, 2. Local and global aspects of embassies’ architecture national and international architectural movements, (...) architectures that were once specific and local have be- The subject matter of the INTBAU conference was come interchangeable and global. National identity has made more precise by means of additional issues related seemingly been sacrificed to modernity.1 to local tradition, identity, the ‘DNA’ of a place, commu- nity wisdom, and local technologies. With regard to the 1. Introduction architecture of diplomatic outposts, the foregoing notions are subject to a broader analysis. The term ‘l o c a l’ refers The announcement of the third session of INTBAU’s to the culture not only of the receiving country, but also international conference in Cracow, ‘Tradition and Heri- the delegating country. Tradition concerns the cultures of tage in the Contemporary Image of the City’, coincided both states; the ‘D N A’ of the site is related to the con- with Rem Koolhaas’ statement at the 14th Architecture Bi- text – the location of the building. The community wisdom ennale held in Venice this year. The article is an attempt refers to global (characteristic of a given state) and local to interpret the subject matter of Biennale – ‘Absorbing (characteristic of a specific location) architectural prac- Modernity 1914–2014’, in terms of the issues addressed tice in designing embassies, whereas the t e c h n o l o g y at the INTBAU conference: tradition, heritage, and global- uses two sources of knowledge – one from the receiving isation.2 An analysis of the diplomatic outposts that have country, and the other from the delegating country. For this been erected over the last 20 years (in the vein of contem- reason, the architecture of diplomatic outposts is designed porary architecture in Berlin, as well as the Dutch embas- on a local and global interface, thus referring to the con- sies erected in the last decade) reference the assumptions cept of regionalism in architecture per Lewis Mumford. of the conference; La Biennale di Venezia is an attempt Lian Lafaivre defines the aforementioned in the most ac- to answer the question whether ‘architectures that were curate manner: “With Mumford (…) regionalism becomes once specific and local have become interchangeable and a constant process of negotiation between the local and the global on many different issues that traditionally made up regionalism”.4 Balancing on the interface of lo- c a l a n d g l o b a l a s p e c t s is a constant component * M.Sc. Arch. Architect, Ph.D. candidate, Justyna Kolarz-Piotro- of designing embassies, which makes it a complex process. wicz, Division of Public Use Buildings, Institute of Architectural The terms ‘local’ and ‘global’ have shades Design, Faculty of Architecture, Cracow University of Technology; of two national identities. Regarding the Architect at Claudio Nardi Architects. t e r m ‘l o c a l’, the first shade is within the context of 1 R. Koolhaas, Statement for 14th International Architecture Exhi- bition (online): www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/ news/25-01. html, (date of access: 2014-05-10). 3 R. Koolhaas, op. cit. 2 ‘Globalisation’ – additional notion introduced by the speaker – 4 L. Lefaivre, Critical Regionalism. A Facet of Modern Architecture Robert Adam – who paraphrased the title of the conference: Tra- since 1945, [in:] L. Lafaivre, A. Tzonis (Eds.), Critical Region- dition and Globalisation in the Contemporary City, first day of the alism: Architecture and Identity in a Globalized World, Munich, third International INTBAU Conference, Cracow May 5, 2014. Prestel 2003, p. 35. 106 the embassy’s location in the host country, as well as local natural resource-efficient means and by regenerative design practices related to the embassy’s architecture in technologies’.8 a specific capital city; the other is a reference to the nation- The guidelines seem to be the road sign for the archi- al identity of the delegating country through solutions in tects of diplomatic outposts, and for the Ministry of For- architecture. First, the term ‘g l o b a l’ refers to the global eign Affairs when developing programme assumptions for perception of a specific delegating country abroad, as well embassy buildings. However, the erected buildings do not as the public relations policy of the specific country’s Min- always reflect these assumptions. An example of non-com- istry of Foreign Affairs; the other meaning refers to a glob- pliance with the Charter of Stockholm’s rules is the design al trend in designing embassies worldwide. of the United Arab Emirates embassy in Berlin, which is In summary, an embassy’s architecture a copy of the typical solutions for traditional buildings re- links the tradition and legacy of both lated to Arabic culture. This counts as an example of the c o u n t r i e s – the receiving country and the delegating ‘literal approach’ in architecture, which means ‘quoting’ country – by way of multi-level meanings of what is local the architecture of a delegating country onto the area of and global. the host country. In this light, Rem Koolhaas’ opinion that “architectures that were once specific and local have 9 3. ‘Architectural diplomacy’ become interchangeable and global ” is accurate. ‘Inter- changeable’, ‘alternativity’, and ‘interchangeability’ of the While focusing on the features referenced in modern diplomatic outpost’s architecture may be treated as a hy- architecture (according to Rem Koolhaas’ statement), we pothetical possibility of its adjustment for the purpose of can ponder whether the architecture of a specific embassy a diplomatic outpost of another state or, also in hypothetical may be ‘interchangeable, (…) global’5, modern, and there- terms, a possibility of the ‘relocation’ of the same architec- fore expresses a national identity in a diplomatic manner. ture to another capital city. In the first case, we speak about Diplomacy is the art of peacefully settling disputes. In the features of national identity contained in the solutions architectural and town-planning terms, the disputes may in embassy architecture, or the absence thereof. In the oth- refer to an approach to designing against the context – in- er case, we speak about globalisation and the uniformity of cluding location, its urban design background,6 and archi- the architecture of a diplomatic outpost, or the absence of tectural aspects, such as materials used for facades and architectural links within the context of the city’s fabric. form. The peaceful settlement of disputes refers inter alia In the event the embassy building lacks any direct refer- to solutions in architecture which have been designed with ence to the culture of the delegating country, such a building, a view to connect two cultures. hypothetically, might be adjusted to be the building of a dip- The assumptions of ‘architectural diplomacy’ might lomatic outpost of another state. An administrative building also be the three guidelines related to c o n t e x t u a l u r - can be adjusted to a diplomatic function; this transition is banism,7 o n e s included in paragraph IV of the Char- frequently due to economic reasons. Take for example the ter of Stockholm on 6 November, 2003 (the charter for Malaysian embassy, and the buildings that house the em- European urbanism by the Council for European Urban- bassies of Bahrain, Malta, and Luxembourg at Klingelhöfer- ism, or CEU). Robert Adam referenced it in his book, The straße (in the Tiergarten area in Berlin.) These buildings are Globalism of Modern Architecture, in a chapter entitled, only identifiable by their emblem and their flag.10 ‘How Globalisation Keeps Things Different’. The recom- Having applied solutions in architecture (which refer to mendations are as follows: the national identity of the delegating country’s ‘national 1. ‘Individual buildings must be sensitively linked to their shades of embassies’ architecture11’), theoretically, the surroundings. This issue transcends questions of style. change in ownership of the diplomatic outpost – without Urban architecture must respect the history and urban any interference in the structure of the façade or the interior context of its location, be diverse, and be receptive to of the building – would not be possible. the new. 2. Architecture and landscape design must grow from lo- 4. National shades of embassies’ architecture cal climate, topography, history, and building practice, and harmonize with and enrich their context. Another topic at La Biennale di Venezia this year was 3. All buildings must provide their inhabitants with the term ‘Fundamentals’, which refers to the basic com- a clear sense of location, weather, and time.