United States Embassy, Santiago Chile

Located near downtown Santiago, this prominent 5-acre site chosen for the U.S. Embassy offers magnificent views of snow-covered mountains, the river and the downtown skyline.

Location:  Santiago Chile
Client:  The Leonard Parker Associates
Service:  Structural
Construction Materials:  Concrete
 
The building is located in an area of high seismicity requiring extensive seismic design.   The building design, featured a two-story building adjacent to a five story tower requiring seismic separation between the two portions.  The five-story portion, with rectangular upper floors inserted into a circular base, made the design significantly more complex.  Security design was also paramount for this facility.  Integrating the multiple façade relief elements into this design presented additional challenges.  The building was framed with conventional reinforced concrete.  The seismic system included both special moment frames and special shear walls.