The state department has selected Phoenix firm Richärd+Bauer Architecture to design a new complex for the U.S. Consulate General in Rio de Janeiro.
According to the website for the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Brazil, the city's U.S. Consulate General is currently located in a 1952 building designed by Harrison and Abramovitz. Initially commissioned to house an embassy, the building only held that designation for eight years. The country moved its capital to Brasilia in 1960 and the embassy followed, leaving the current consulate general in its stead.
The new complex is slated for a 3.8-acre vacant site in the city's Cidade Nova neighborhood. Once it opens, the Harrison and Abramovitz building will be sold.
The Rio de Janeiro complex is the latest of several consulates that Richärd+Bauer has designed for the United States. The firm's 109,458 square-foot consulate general in Matamoros, Mexico, is scheduled to finish construction next year, and two others are under construction in Hyderabad, India, and Hermosillo, Mexico.
