An Architectural Review and Analysis of the New US Embassy in Suva
Analysis:GET THE HELL AWAY FROM US
I took the above picture by pulling in front of the gate, jumping out of my car as quickly as I could, taking the picture and then immediately peeling away with tires screeching. It's apparently the only way you're allowed to take photographs of American embassies anymore. This is evident from the fascist rules placed upon Vodafone's corporate HQ by embassy personnel. Although they're located just next door, photographs of the embassy are forbidden from the roof. This is enforced, by the way.
Interestingly, I was also to take the following snapshot from Google Earth of the embassy under construction so I guess they haven't gotten to Google just yet.
The tragedy in the new building's design is that it's clearly a symbol of the previous American government's administration. The "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM US" theme of bars, security and fear of everything are remnants of an administration the American majority voted the fuck out of office (pardon my French).
I'm not entirely naive to believe there aren't threats out there in the world, of course. However, the United States should be continually working at improving it's image and appearing INVITING to the rest of the world. Doing that through it's embassies is one obvious step.
A few years ago, the Malaysian Prime Minister made a comment about how the walls around Chinese embassies the world over have been getting lower while walls around the American embassies have been getting higher, the exact opposite of the way things used to be. How true his statement is represented in all its glory on Princes Road. The level of security represented here cannot really be an accurate assessment of the threat to the United States from within Fiji, can it?
I'm saddened, as an American living in this country, that the only thing which seems to resonate from our new embassy appears to be security. If the architects of this concrete, uninspiring, jail-like fortress were aiming to remind people visiting this building how difficult it is to actually visit America as well, then they've succeeded admirably.
What a bummer, an embarrassment and a disappointment to the hills of Tamavua.
[UPDATE 15 Dec, 2009: Cyclone Mick tore through Suva last night and although just a category 2 cyclone, was apparently able to blow down the iron fence at the new embassy. Someone no doubt rushing now to add "cyclone-proof" to the list of requirements for future embassy builds.]
