David Chipperfield Architects has been officially selected to convert the US Embassy near London's Grosvenor Square into a "world-class" 137-room hotel, after the building's current occupants relocate.
With the embassy set to move to a new home in Nine Elms, the Chancery Building at 30 Grosvenor Square will be completely transformed into a hotel with five restaurants, six shops, a spa and a ballroom.
David Chipperfield Architects was appointed to the project by developer Qatari Diar, from a shortlist that reportedly included Foster + Partners and KPF.
"Our design proposals protect and respect the significant architectural and structural characteristics of Eero Saarinen's design, with a focus on restoring and enhancing this unique building to secure its long-term future at the heart of Mayfair, we have studied the building's design and its history as well as its surroundings to deliver an architecturally and socially coherent proposal, which will transform this purpose-built embassy into a world-class hotel." said David Chipperfield.
Completed in 1960, the Chancery Building was Britain's first purpose-built embassy. Saarinen worked on the building while he was designing the JFK airport terminal in New York, which is also now being converted into a hotel.
