The Foreign Service Journal, December 2012

similar program tailored to the specific needs of embassies and other diplomatic facilities. According to Ed Feiner, the architect who created GSA’s much-celebrated program, the goal of Design Excellence was to build not just high-performance workplaces, but distinguished civic landmarks of “lasting and inspirational” value. He calls these buildings “keepers.” In 2012, when Namm left to become U.S. ambassador to Ecuador and Muniz succeeded him as OBO director, she was already committed to finding ways to build embassies that could also be called “keepers.” Muniz came to OBO from New York University, where she had a key role in management of an extensive real estate pro- gram that included branch campuses abroad. Before that, her experience in international and public affairs included positions on Capitol Hill, with the Office of Management and Budget, and with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Beyond her management experience, she brought with her what she describes as “a strong belief in public architecture.” “This has always been important to me,” she says, “and it is one reason why I was brought in to OBO in the first place.” What Muniz encountered on arrival, however, was a Standard Embassy Design that came in three sizes (small, medium and large)—“like T-shirts at The Gap,” as she puts it. There was little emphasis on design, she says, and even that was “antithetical to what architecture should be.” In her view, architecture should be tailored to context. Good design is not about “prettifying” or Architects were slow to take up the challenge of the security mandate.