HOK’s new British Embassy in Jakarta

HOK's dynamic design for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s new British Embassy building in Jakarta.



The 3,800 m² scheme is designed over three levels and is located on a 1.5 hectare site in central Jakarta. The project is due to complete in 2011.

The design, expressed in a spiralling form, folds around a central protected courtyard and twists up and outwards to form the Embassy’s public entrance invoking a sense of calm assurance. Sustainability is a key design consideration and challenge: Jakarta is in a highly seismic zone with excessive humidity levels; rain falls for eight months a year. Currently the design has been assessed as Excellent under the BREEAM rating. Site security has also influenced the scheme and is the logic to the centrally located building footprint.



The public and private functions within the building are separated with public services located on the ground floor and private Embassy functions located above. The public courtyard brings the tropical landscape into the heart of the building with a contained and controlled environment, very different in character to the lush landscape around the building.

Water recycling is important: all rain water falling on the structure will be collected, stored and used for irrigation and grey water purposes; this will also reduce the burden on the City’s water systems. To help eliminate solar gain, the Embassy is designed on an east-west axis.



HOK’s project director, Andrew Barraclough comments: “This is a fantastic project in a truly challenging climate. We’re giving considerable thought to the use of locally sourced materials to give an excellent life cycle. We want the building to appear as if it’s been hewn from a single piece of stone to provide a sense of solidity and security.”



The FCO’s project sponsor added: “HOK’s challenge is to balance the design to realise both security and accessibility. This is being achieved with considerable thought being given to the environment.”

HOK is collaborating with MACE the FCO’s Strategic Partner, Ramboll Whitby Bird as structural, facade and MEP engineers; and TPS as security advisors.



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HOK is one of the world’s largest and most acclaimed architectural design firms with 2,600 staff in 27 offices around the globe. It celebrates diversity through geographic reach, project genre and form and the talents of its multi-disciplined design professionals.

London’s 350-strong team has designed a variety of significant projects in the capital including: Barclays Bank World Headquarters; the Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum; the Ministry of Defence Headquarters; the Cabinet Office and the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms.

Current projects in the UK, Europe and the Middle East comprise: Heathrow Terminal 5 Rail Station, London; Bow Bells House, London; Bolsover Street, London; Boddington’s brewery masterplan, Manchester; Gillette Corner redevelopment and masterplan, London; Barts & The London NHS Trust, London, UK; Delhi airport, India; Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait; Medeu Village and ski resort, Kazakhstan and Al Ain masterplan, Abu Dhabi. HOK sport architecture designed the Emirates Stadium and Wembley Stadium in London and is currently designing the new Lansdowne Road Stadium in Dublin, Republic of Ireland and the London 2012 Olympic Stadium.

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British Embassy Jakarta : page - adrian welch / isabelle lomholt