History of the U.S. Embassy in Brasília

Creating a New Capital

The idea to transfer Brazil’s capital from coastal Rio de Janeiro to the country’s interior dates back as far as the 19th century. Conceived as a means to unify the diverse nation and grow its economy, the capital’s relocation began in earnest in 1956 under President Juscelino Kubitscheck, accompanied by a national competition that called on architects, engineers, and urbanists to plan the new city from scratch. The winning entry of Lúcio Costa (1902–1998) laid down Brasília’s foundational design gesture of two crossing axes, which resembles an airplane or bird in flight. Rising out of Brazil’s highlands in less than four years, Brasília was inaugurated in 1960—an impressive feat of planning, labor, and imagination.

The U.S. Embassy’s distinguished location, near the heart of Costa’s plan and major cultural and civic institutions, signified the close friendship between Brazil and the United States. Selected by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles in 1958 when Brasília was still heavily under construction, the site’s position also reflects the city’s functionalist design, which divides the capital into superblocks and sectors by use.

Left: The location of the U.S. Embassy, marked here by the Great Seal of the United States, is overlaid on Lúcio Costa’s 1957 competition-winning sketch of Brasília’s urban plan. Costa organized the city along “two axes crossing at right angles; the sign of the cross itself.” Integrated into the highlands, the cross adapts to the topography by curving along the natural ridge. View corridors along the axes highlight the city’s civic buildings.

Below: The people who built Brasília included thousands of migrant workers, as well as members of the nearby Quilombo Mesquita community —many of whom still live in the area surrounding Brasília. The city’s construction markedly changed the landscape they had farmed and maintained for centuries.

Brasília Today

An aerial view of Brasília reveals the proximity of the United States Embassy to the city’s Monumental Axis and the landmark buildings that line it.

National Congress

Ministries

In February 1960, shortly before the city’s inauguration, Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Juscelino Kubitschek laid the chancery’s cornerstone together, reaffirming the nations’ friendship and their shared goals.

The Original Embassy: 1962 and 1972

Designed by Washington, D.C.-based firm McLeod and Ferrera and inaugurated in April 1962, the first chancery was a modest, single-story building that reflected the post-World War II ethos of the Office of Foreign Buildings. Clad in white brick and stucco, and organized around a central courtyard, the architecture was modernist, planar, and animated by the gardens and waterscapes of Brazilian landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx. The Ambassador’s residence and housing for embassy staff occupied most of the new building, with the front bar set aside for offices.

The chancery was expanded in 1972 with a two-story addition designed by Omaha-based architecture and engineering firm Henningson, Durham, and Richardson (HDR). The new structure, clad in white Vermont marble, added a courtyard surrounded by office space immediately to the southeast of the original chancery, continuing its simple, modern lines with a formal representational approach and distinct entrances for staff and visitors.

Aerial photograph of the original chancery, ca. 1960s. In the decades since, the surrounding land has filled with embassies and Brazilian departmental offices.

Blueprint perspective drawings of the original 1962 United States Embassy in Brasília, designed by McLeod and Ferrera. The arched main entrance shown in the drawings was never built.

The 1972 addition brought improved functionality to the mission. Like the original chancery it abuts, the new building was rectilinear, with a courtyard garden cut into its floorplate. Its car park and main entrance featured shade trees and soft curves.

The embassy’s diplomatic presence and main entrance have faced east since 1962. Over time, other nations constructed their chanceries facing west, which left the U.S. chancery’s back to its neighbors. A top goal for the renewed campus is to create stronger relationships with these neighbors, as well as more fluid circulation paths for the different users across the embassy site.

A photograph of the original chancery courtyard. While many of the garden’s plant species and landscape features specified by Burle Marx in 1960 were substituted in the following years, the angular pools, rock arrangements, and tropical scheme that remained maintained the spirit of his plan.

The Gardens of Roberto Burle Marx

Brazilian landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx (1909–1994) was renowned for his expressive, geometric designs and tropical planting schemes. As a self-taught botanist and trained artist who was captivated by Europe’s expressionist painters, Burle Marx infused his gardens with lyricism, drama, and experimentation. His desire to celebrate and preserve Brazilian landscapes added an ecological purpose to his work.

Among the array of tropical species Burle Marx selected for the 1962 chancery courtyard garden were red- and purple-flowering plants and large pequi fruit trees. A diverse range of aquatic vegetation also formed part of his original plan, complementing the angular pools and visually linking together to create a sense of continuity in the small space. A scalloped canopy walkway designed by McLeod and Ferrera crosses the courtyard, providing shade and echoing the curved, modernist forms present throughout Brasília. The color, rhythm, and cohesion that defined this small garden and many other Burle Marx landscapes underscores the cheerfulness of the age and its confidence in the future.

Top: The courtyard garden by Roberto Burle Marx in the original chancery, shown here in the 1970s.

Bottom: Roberto Burle Marx wearing elephant ear leaves during a botanical expedition in Ecuador, 1974.

Learning from Tropical Modernism

Concrete’s ability to make curving and tapering forms possible—from the repetitive arched façade of Oscar Niemeyer’s Alvorada Palace to his crown-like Cathedral—is on exuberant display in Brasília and Brazil at large.

Responsiveness to the sun is the most apparent environmental driver of the local architecture, where various types of screens, louvers, and brise-soleils are deployed to mediate the intense daylight during the long summer season. The play of light and shadow across these often curved and layered façades brings additional interest to their forms. Landscape elements such as plants, water, and topography also permeate the city, bringing richness and cooler microclimates to its outdoor gathering places.

Studying this vocabulary informed the design of the new embassy, allowing its architecture to benefit both functionally and aesthetically from the innovations of Brazil’s earlier generation of architects.

A New Vision

The new embassy design anticipates a greener, more vibrant and equitable future for the United States’ diplomatic mission in Brazil. Conveying an overall sense of optimism and vitality, the project draws on the unique qualities of Brasília’s natural and built environment—from the prevalence of indooroutdoor spaces to the innovative use of reinforced concrete— to honor this heritage while evolving it to address the needs of the twenty-first century and beyond.

The design aims to deepen connections between people and place, creating opportunities for cultural exchange and community-building at all scales. The landscape honors the tropical exuberance and richness of Burle Marx’s vision, while weaving the region’s indigenous Cerrado ecosystem into daily encounters, providing visitors, staff, and diplomats with an ever-changing experience of Brazil’s biodiversity and beauty.

Through its honest use of material, the embassy’s elegant and high-performance façade builds on Brazil’s long history of material and construction innovation, such as climate-responsive architecture and finely crafted mosaics. Environmental stewardship and resilience are further strengthened through incorporating renewable energy and other green strategies into the embassy facilities and site.

Officials and diplomatic visitors approach the embassy from the northeast, along the representational path, which echoes the curve of the new chancery building as it passes through the site’s biodiverse landscape.

Reaching Outward, Drawing Together

The original embassy, with its rectilinear form and central courtyards, was designed for elegant efficiency and indoor/outdoor use, according to the modernist principles of the time. The new embassy carries these concepts forward and expands on them, reaching beyond the modernist box to engage the entire site and its urban and ecological context in support of the diplomatic mission.

To unify and clarify the embassy’s complex functions while creating a memorable experience, the design deploys a formal tool prevalent in nature: curvature. Seen throughout Brasília, from the monumental civic structures of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer (1907–2012) to the sinuous shoreline of Lake Paranoá, curves at the new embassy exercise their full capacity to foster a flow of relationships. Each one is leveraged to generate intimacy, connection, or a feeling of welcome.

The architecture and landscape design are guided by a series of arcs of different radii that blend seamlessly and organize the different paths of movement across the site. Situated at its highest point, the new chancery greets visitors arriving from all approaches with a dynamic identity and sense of invitation. Its curved plan gives the façade a sense of movement, animating the journey of officials and diplomats along the representational path and verdant garden swath. This path leads to the main entrance—located at the nexus of the urban view corridors linking Brasília’s Residential Sector, Monumental Axis, and Congress— where the building bends inward to embrace visitors as they arrive. Embassy staff and consular visitors approach the building from the east, intuitively guided by garden pathways through an unfolding sequence of spaces.

The chancery bends in and out like a river. Its coves and promontories form generous openings, offer views of civic and cultural landmarks, and merge effortlessly with the landscape. Expanding on the oasis quality of the restored Burle Marx garden at the northwest, the architecture and landscape work together to create a range of courtyards and gardens across the site. Making the joy and health benefits of Brazilian indoor/outdoor living readily available, these green spaces infuse the entire campus with a simultaneous sense of openness and protection, and interweave the natural beauty of the city and region into the everyday.

Architecture and landscape fluidly merge in the design, as shown in this rendered site plan.

Connecting People and Place

Diplomacy is, by definition, the art of building and maintaining constructive relationships. The design of the new embassy aims to embody and facilitate communication by setting up multiple ways for people to connect with each other, as well as Brasília’s pleasant climate, rich ecology, and extraordinary architecture.

At the scale of the individual, the embassy’s flexible, day-lit meeting and working spaces support productive interactions and connection to the outdoors, encouraging planned and impromptu collaboration. At the scale of the site, a range of indoor-outdoor spaces enable gathering to promote intellectual and cultural exchange between diplomats, staff, and visitors. At the city scale, a visually open and welcoming perimeter establishes a gracious relationship between the site and its surroundings while maintaining access, safety, and security. At the scale of the nation, the embassy serves as a vital symbol of the relationship between the United States and Brazil, while its sustainable design demonstrates a greener way forward for diplomatic architecture at the global scale.

Sustainably sourced wood brings a warm, natural feeling to the interior of the gallery and the spaces that branch off from this hub.

Gallery

The representational path continues into the chancery, through the main lobby, and into the gallery, which is located directly in the center of the building. This daylit, triple-height space is the hub for the entire embassy. Organizing the flow between work, meeting, and dining spaces, it also establishes a natural social center where people can cross paths and converse. A grand stair connects to a spacious balcony that overlooks the space below, and provides views out to the terrace and landscape beyond.

An early model reveals the gallery’s fluid connection between outdoors and indoors, as well as the architecture’s use of horizontal planes to permit views while ameliorating solar heat gain.

A section cut through the gallery shows how the space links multiple levels and brings diffuse natural light and living vegetation deep into the interior.

The legacy of indoor-outdoor spaces in Brasília is carried forward in the new gallery. Daylight filters in through its glazed entry, skylights, and façade, while staff and visitors gain clear views and easy connections to the garden, terrace, and the consular spaces below. An intricate ceramic tile mosaic on the eastern wall brings color and a human scale to the space.

Workspaces

The chancery’s slender footprint provides abundant natural light and outdoor views for the workspaces, contributing to the health and well-being of the embassy community.

The workspaces are developed on an activity-based model to establish spaces for community and connection, as well as spaces for tasks requiring focus. The modular interior planning approach allows for movement and energy to be apportioned according to the mission’s evolving needs, optimizing flexibility to accommodate growth and change over the building’s lifecycle.

Executive Suite

In the executive suite, a shared entrance foyer acts as a connection point for staff and visitors, encouraging openness, connection, and transparency. Full of daylight and warm wood tones, the Chief of Mission’s office provides a comfortable environment for work and conversation.

Locally sourced emerald marble brings the geology and beauty of the region to the space.

Rhythm and Flow

As fluid and organic as the new chancery may appear, it is composed of regular modules and devised for efficient construction. The geometry is built up from straight segments and arcs, and driven by the desire to create an intuitively functional and spatially compelling experience for all of the embassy’s diverse users.

Two overlapping circles establish the layout of both the architecture and landscape. The larger of the two circles encloses the bustling center of the chancery, with the gallery located within. The smaller of the two marks out the midpoint of the building, gently pushing it inward to form the curve of the main entrance. This geometry draws people from the surrounding site into the main lobby and gallery, creating a strong sense of invitation and simplifying movement across the site.

Reaching beyond the center and extending to form an S-shape, the chancery’s spine organizes its different programs into two wings that provide a clear distinction of uses. Along the perimeter, the modular logic of bays accommodates the embassy’s operational needs and optimizes office floorspace, providing flexibility and adaptability for present and future uses. When viewed in perspective, the bays’ regular rhythm is perceptible and accentuated by the architecture’s curving walls and deep façade.

Above: A conceptual sketch by Jeanne Gang shows the elemental geometry that gives order to the chancery’s form. The building’s central axis is oriented toward the Monumental Axis of Brasília, connecting the embassy with the city at the urban scale.

The curves of the chancery are reflected in the landscape of the consular garden and the sheltering overhang of the consular entrance pavilion. The garden’s blend of native Cerrado grasses and other plants greets visitors with a sample of the biome’s diversity.

Consular Services

The consular services area is designed to accommodate a large volume of visitors with an inviting, intuitive, and calm experience. Natural light and materials create a warm welcome, while the soft curve of the space—echoed in the lines of the ceiling and the layout of the consular service booths—helps guide visitors while providing privacy at the booths. Views of the surrounding gardens contribute to a peaceful, open feeling for this important touch point between the mission and U.S., Brazilian, and third-country visitors.

Brightening the consular services area, a reception desk of mosaic tile continues the abstracted rainforest pattern featured in the gallery one level above.

Whether painted, printed, or woven into tapestries, the vibrant, densely layered compositions of Beatriz Milhazes combine Brazilian elements with American and European abstraction. Her references range widely from Brazil’s biodiverse flora and the Tropicália movement of the late 1960s, to Baroque architecture’s opulent and expressive forms.

Milhazes’ tapestry in the main lobby will bring texture and vivid color to the space, greeting visitors with a distinctly Brazilian sense of welcome. The tapestry will be woven in the centuries-old “basselisse” technique by Maison PINTON, master Aubusson tapestry makers.

Art in Embassies

The U.S. Department of State’s long-running Art in Embassies program celebrates the work of U.S. and host country artists, encouraging cross-cultural dialogue and fostering mutual understanding.

The work of two internationally renowned Brazilian contemporary artists will be on display in the new embassy. In the main lobby, a unique tapestry by Rio de Janeiro-based Beatriz Milhazes will greet those arriving to the chancery with her signature vivid colors and abstract geometry. Proceeding into the triple-height gallery space, occupants and visitors will find a suspended sculpture by Ernesto Neto, also from Rio, whose biomorphic forms evoke a sense of lightness and wonder.

Ernesto Neto’s art explores Brazilian traditions and ideas about the relationship between our bodies and the world around us. Often inhabitable or interactive, his pieces invite viewers to touch and sometimes smell them, offering a multi-sensory experience that encourages happiness and contemplation.

Shown above is Neto’s 2018 work Gaia Mother Tree, a sculpture made of hand-knotted cotton strips that was temporarily installed in the main train station of Zurich, Switzerland. Neto’s original sculpture for the new embassy’s gallery will similarly emphasize the grand height of the space, as well as its intended use as a central gathering place.

Delicate cobogó brick screens frame views of the surrounding gardens, filtering light while creating a sense of intimacy for those within.

Courtyard Pavilion

A range of shaded courtyards and gardens throughout the embassy grounds welcome staff and visitors and provide space for conversation, events, and exchange. At the eastern edge of the restored Burle Marx garden, a pair of outdoor kitchens in the new courtyard pavilion provide a special gathering point. Here, the embassy community can meet, strengthen friendships, and celebrate holidays like the Fourth of July and Proclamação da República

As shown in this conceptual sketch by Jeanne Gang, the different ribbons of landscape interweave with the embassy buildings. The landscape works with the architecture to perform multiple functions, creating habitat for wildlife, storing and filtering water, providing shade and cooling, and promoting the health and wellness of embassy staff.

Fitness and Well-Being

Fitness and exercise programming cluster around the restored Burle Marx courtyard in the northwest of the site. A fitness center lines the southern edge of the courtyard and its pavilion, with sport courts located to the north. Taken together, these programs make the Burle Marx garden a central node within the embassy site, reactivating the garden’s historic role as a social hub.

The fitness center is directly adjacent to an outdoor court, allowing fitness activities to seamlessly flow between inside and outside.

Terrace

Complementing the campus’ ground-level courtyard gardens, the embassy’s terrace is an elevated perch with views of the surrounding landscape. Accessed directly from the gallery, this large outdoor social and event space provides a natural link between the indoor and outdoor spaces, serving as a relaxing forum to deepen relationships between staff and diplomatic visitors.

On a day-to-day basis, the terrace offers a lush, shaded environment to enjoy dining or meeting with colleagues. Surrounded by varying heights of vegetation, and framed by the sinuous chancery façade, the terrace creates an immersive environment for many types of embassy functions.

The terrace’s tropical plant species establish an abundance of colors and textures throughout the seasons, as well as visual privacy from the adjoining gallery, consular garden, and consular entrance pavilion. Staff and visitors can also take in views of the mature treetops of the neighboring French embassy gardens, located to the south.