Cold War American Embassies and Analogue Sites
February 27, 2025
2:00-3:00 pm ET
Join APT for a lecture by artist and preservation architect Jorge Otero-Pailos, as he delves into the creative process and history leading to artworks in his sculpture exhibition, Analogue Sites, currently displayed on Park Avenue in Manhattan. The presentation examines the architectural vision of American embassies constructed during the Cold War and Otero-Pailos’ artistic intervention at the decommissioned Cold War-era U.S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway, designed by Eero Saarinen. Otero-Pailos will discuss the sculptures he crafted from the steel fence that once safeguarded the embassy, an artifact he rescued from the scrapyard, considering it a vital piece of history.
The embassies were architectural masterpieces, designed by some of America’s greatest modern architects, including—in addition to Saarinen—Edward Durell Stone, Richard Neutra, Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, and Josep Lluís Sert. The structures shared unique design features, unimaginable in embassies today. They were cultural centers, immigration gateways, and diplomatic offices with free and open public libraries, art galleries, and theaters.
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U.S. Embassy, Athens (Walter Gropius, 1961)
Presented by APT's Technical Committee on Modern Heritage
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