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Iranian embassy under siege from irate NIMBY’s

August 2 2010

Iranian embassy under siege from irate NIMBY’s
Iran may be no stranger to controversy but its latest project, a scheme to relocate its embassy to an uncompromisingly contemporary development in one of London’s most prestigious addresses, has stirred a far more vociferous opponent than the US; local NIMBY’s.

Designed by the Vienna based Iranian architect Armin Daneshgar the building is designed so that it can be “accessed freely by the public” so that it may showcase Iran’s culture, with emphasis on contemporary movements, to the west.

As such it will feature an art gallery and cultural centre the cantilevered facility is projected to cost in excess of £100m and will embody “Iran’s public image in London.”

This marks an attempt to move on from the terrorism and hostage history of its current home in a nearby town house, scene of an infamous SAS rescue and has echoes of the US embassires similarly vexatious flit to Wandsworth.

But this has done little to assuage locals who have already branded the architecture as “out of character” with, perhaps inevitably, Prince Charles being namechecked as a potential standard bearer against the development..

Kensington and Chelsea are set to decide on the planning application this September.

2 Comments

Oh dear...
#1 Posted by Oh dear... on 2 Aug 2010 at 16:46 PM
Locals have hardly had a chance to brand it anything as images have been hard to access. It is next to a Grade II* listed church and in a Conservation Area, and as such is possibly out of character.

The shock horror tone of the article doesn't express the reality of the situation.
Jack Warshaw
#2 Posted by Jack Warshaw on 4 Aug 2010 at 15:35 PM
The scale and proportions of the Iranian scheme are a lot more friendly and contextual than the proposed US Embassy, with its security combound and bunker approach. If ever a country and a building is bent on breaking all urban design sense, even in that desolalte part of Wandsworth it is the US.

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