The U.S. Department of State will undertake a project to construct an office annex building on the compound of the Embassy of the United States of America in Moscow, Russia. This seven story office building will be sited adjacent to the current Chancery building.
The first two floors of the building will provide Consular and Visa services to the rapidly growing number of Russian citizens wishing to travel to the United States for tourism, study and business, and citizen services to the growing number of American visitors and expatriates living, studying and working in Russia.
The upper floors of the new annex will provide office space for elements of the U.S. Government engaged in furthering the partnership with the Government of the Russian Federation, to include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, the Foreign Commercial Service and the Foreign Agricultural Service.
The Department of State’s Office of Overseas Buildings Operations developed this new annex under the Design Excellence program to meet the highest standards of functionality, architectural aesthetics and environmental awareness. The annex will meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. The Department has engaged the internationally respected architectural firm of Helmut, Obata & Kassabaum (HOK) to design the annex. HOK has, in turn, engaged the prestigious Russian architectural firm of A. R. Vorontsov to participate in this project. Ground-breaking is scheduled for the summer of 2012, and ribbon-cutting is projected for 2015.
The construction of the new annex will complete a program of diplomatic construction in both Washington, DC and Moscow as envisioned in agreements signed in 1969 and amended in 1992. Here in Moscow, the Department of State has benefited from the support and assistance of the Main Administration for Service to the Diplomatic Corps (GlavUpDK) and the City of Moscow to provide functional, safe, secure, architecturally pleasing and environmentally sound facilities that support the partnership of Russia and America.
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