The Bureau of Overseas Building Operations has high standards to meet. The buildings they design have to be secure, functional, and stand the test of time. The embassies and other facilities they design are 50-year buildings. They have to withstand a place’s climate, fit in with the local culture, and confidently represent the U.S. as an open nation. In this episode, Curtis Clay, the OBO’s director of architecture, discusses how the bureau designs buildings that will become legacies—and how they keep the focus on the role the building will serve.

Interview Takeaways

• Design resilient buildings
• Design for the future
• Hire secure firms
• Solve problems beyond the brief
• Understand the local context
• Make purposeful decisions
• Gauge when in person or virtual meetings are necessary
• Bring the private into the public
• Go back to basic problem solving
• Look at a variety of public sector roles
• Make people comfortable in your buildings
• Solve for constructability and maintainability before aesthetics

Show Links

• Connect with Curtis Clay on LinkedIn or Twitter
• Check out Bureau of Overseas Building Operations
• Connect with George Valdes on LinkedIn or Twitter
• Connect with Chris Morgan on LinkedIn 
• Check out Monograph
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• Listen and read more about Monograph