Architecture firm finds a niche in designing embassy buildings

Virginia Business
August 2006

Virginia Beach-based CMSS Architects PC is creating a niche for itself in designing aesthetic, culturally-sensitive buildings intended to defend against technological and biological terrorist attacks.

Three CMSS-designed U.S. embassies were recently completed. The U.S. State Department commissioned CMSS to design embassies in Yerevan, Armenia; Sofia, Bulgaria; and Abidjan, Ivory Coast. All three opened in 2004 or 2005.

“Even though there are some very stringent criteria for security for these buildings, there are a number of ceremonial spaces,” says John Crouse, founding principal of CMSS. “These are prestigious buildings. They are designed to be symbols of the United States for the various countries. They are also designed in the context of architecture and materials for the region.”

The firm first gained security knowledge when it helped Alexandria-based Bradley/ Parker & Associates design security upgrades for 12 U.S. embassies after the simultaneous attacks on U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 1998. Expertise in security design later helped the firm win contracts to design these three embassies.

CMSS designed all three embassies at the same time, with a team of about 12 who have become adept on security issues. Crouse says many of the security features used in the embassies have also been used for high-security buildings it has designed in the United States.

Crouse predicts CMSS will continue to receive high-security projects. The firm also has designed a three-story addition to the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, which will be finished in the next few weeks. “I think these are prestigious projects,” says Crouse. “People who have worked on them have a lot of pride at having been involved in these projects.”