Commercial \ New British Embassy for Macedonia

The project was completed and the building occupied in January 2006.

The practice were commissioned to design the interior of the new British Embassy to be housed in the former Seismological Institute in the Macedonian capital, Skopje. Although not completely permanent, the Embassy is expected to be in residence in the building for approximately twenty years. Two almost identical adjacent buildings have been rented by the French and British governments respectively.

Security considerations prevent us from exhibiting any internal plans or detail drawings but we can show images of the interior and exterior of the building on which we worked.

The goal of this project was to create a modern, contemporary 'European' working environment with the creation, at its centre, a 'public space' but one more like an art gallery than a government building.

When the building was gutted, various architectural details were exposed and exploited' for example the poured concrete 'honey comb' ceilings and grid structure in the atrium skylight (which had been covered up with a false frosted glass ceiling).

Our extensive experience gained during the design of the new British High Commission in Sri Lanka led directly to this appointment.

Quote by the Wife of the British Ambassador prior to the official opening in April 2006:

'It shows how imagination and vision can transform the mundane''