"Few buildings and sites are more intricately integrated than an embassy compound," says Mark Sexton, an architect with Chicago's Krueck Sexton Partners and adjunct lecturer at Northwestern Engineering.
Since 2013, Sexton has worked with the State Department to update and renovate embassy buildings.
Together, they assembled a team of Northwestern experts and asked them to develop a roadmap for the future of embassy design.
The project, called "Embassy 2050," was completed this summer.
It's part of a larger effort by the State Department to plan for the future of its diplomatic properties, which include embassies, consulates, office space, diplomatic housing, and marine guard residences, per a press release.
"Few buildings and sites are more intricately integrated than an embassy compound," says Sexton.
One of the roadmap's goals is to make the buildings more resilient to climate change, technological advancements, population shifts, urbanization, and resource scarcity, per the State Department's Curtis F.
Clay.
For example, diesel generators use unsustainable fuel and generate pollution, including particulate matter and climate-warming greenhouse gases.
But they're still reliable in remote or conflict-torn regions, says Rotta Loria, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern.
"By planning ahead, of course,
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