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Deigned by the Philadelphia architectural firm KieranTimberlake*, the chancery building incorporates a number of sustainable design elements, and has been generally well received (international politics aside) by staff and local residents. It replaced a mid-century modern structure (by Eero Saarinen, now being redeveloped as a hotel) in the more traditionally fancypants Grosvenor Square neighborhood.
* Coincidentally, also the designer of Penn's Levine Hall, where I once had my office.
The new US Embassy to the UK, completed in 2017, is a roughly cubically-shaped glass box covered on three sides with a semi-transparent textured Teflon "envelope" that aids in temperature regulation. Situated in a landscaped compound on the Thames between the Battersea Power Station and MI6's famous Vauxhall headquarters, it's one of the most distinctive recent structures in that part of London's South Bank.
Captured with the Rodenstock 70mm/5.6 HR Digaron-W lens (@ f/8) lens, Phase One IQ4-150 digital back (@ ISO 50, 1/50 sec), Cambo WRS-5005 camera (Shifted vertically -19mm, horizontally -10mm). Cropped to a 4:5 aspect ratio.
The embassy's exterior "envelope" curtain forms an interesting abstract pattern that reminds me of the sound absorbing tiles that line recording studios and anechoic chambers. This photo shows the western-facing side.
US Embassy Building, Wandsworth, London, UK, 2025.
All the pixels, which might be measured in pounds, kilograms, or stone, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/54586230547
Captured with a small full frame mirrorless camera and 21mm lens.
A six second exposure created a motion study; we can see how people move around the plaza. Or perhaps they're ghosts.
Compositionally, this is mostly a study of circles and rings, with an imaginary diagonal radiating from the fountain to the man with the camera in the lower right.
Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, NYC, 2013.
All the pixels, no cars allowed, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/10374715704
Captured on a very snowy day in Center City Philadelphia with a (weatherproofed) DSLR and 105mm lens. Brrr.
Train in Blizzard, Philadelphia, PA, 2010.
All the pixels, each unique, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/4347814086
@markrsmith and another to the east near Fort Hancock, along the border. But these are small and don’t include any major airports. Much more normal.
AP reporting that it was a possible “miscommunication” between the FAA and military involving operations at Biggs airfield
Update: TFR appears to have been lifted, effectively immediately.
@SteveBellovin @tinker @jianmin I’m hard pressed to understand how disrupting life in and the economy of the well known radical leftist bastion of El Paso, TX owns the libs, but you never know.
@aholtzma not the same area.
A particularly weird thing about this is that if it were about protecting something on the ground, you would expect there to also be all sorts of things being done on the ground, with local police, etc. But there’s nothing. It’s just the FAA, so far.
@joyce @douglevin That wouldn’t make sense. If it were a public health emergency involving the airport, they’d just close the airport, not the airspace around it.
@curtosis “National defense airspace” is also
@tinker yeah. It’s either an incredibly dumb reason or an incredibly scary reason. Incredibly dumb is more likely than it once was, but we still can’t rule out incredibly scary.
This is very unusual. Aside from the disruption- it closes a large metropolitan airport for 10 days- no advance notice was given. So this isn’t for some planned event or operation.
@ben yeah, almost definitely not that. This was sudden and closes a large civil airport.