The design decisions for the U.S. embassy in London acknowledge the State Department's primary goal of protecting employees and visitors against terrorism.

But KieranTimberlake's cube wrapped in a shimmering polymer scrim also recognizes the importance of sustainable design, as U.S. officials vow to build a carbon neutral building.

One of the building's goals will be to create more energy than it uses. It will be a high-efficiency solar collector, complete with a pubic park and a moat.

It is, according to the architect, a "beacon that is a respectful icon representing the strength of the U.S.-U.K. relationship."

Indeed, the design is aimed at resolving the program requirements which dictate what a U.S. embassy must do, while also aspiring to show what an embassy can be.

Laurie Olin, who designed Portland's recently opened Director Park, will be the landscape architect on the London embassy project.

Louis B. Susman, U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and acting director of the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, Adam Namm, announced Tuesday that KieranTimberlake of Philadelphia won the design competition for the new London embassy.

U.S. officials said the design embodies the "core beliefs of our democracy - transparency, openness, and equality."

KieranTimberlake’s design met the goal of creating a sustainable, modern, safe and energy efficient embassy for the 21st century.

Their concept satisfied the requirements outlined in the design competition’s mission statement. KieranTimberlake is an architectural firm known for its innovation and environmental responsibility.

"Viewed from the north at the proposed plaza, the embassy grounds will provide the prospect of an open park, a landscape of grasses rising gracefully to the new embassy colonnade, with the required secure boundaries incised into the hillside and out of view," according to a statement from KieranTimberlake.

"Instead of a perimeter-walled precinct, the site to the north and south is a welcoming urban amenity, a park for the city that fuses the new embassy to the city of London. Alternatives to perimeter walls and fences are achieved through landscape design."

Starting with 37 architectural submissions, the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations narrowed the list to nine firms. A jury of both American and British leaders in the fields of architecture, academia and diplomacy selected four firms for the final phase of the competition."

The four firms explored the symbolism of the embassy, its presence and position in the cityscape of London. Their goal was to create a building and site complex with a timeless quality to appropriately represent the United States of America in the United Kingdom.

The four competing architectural firms, KieranTimberlake, Morphosis Architects, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and Richard Meier & Partners, worked for nearly a year and made presentations to the jury which then recommended the winning design.

As KieranTimberlake moves forward with the design of the building, the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations and KieranTimberlake will be engaged in the consultation and planning process involving the mayor’s office, the Wandsworth Borough Council, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, as well as residents in the area to ensure that the new embassy provides an appropriate home for the United States of America in London.

The team includes Olin as Landscape Architect; Arup for Sustainability, MEP/FP and Civil Engineering; Weidlinger Associates for Structural and Blast Engineering; Gensler for workplace design; Davis Langdon for Cost Consulting; and Sako & Associates for Technical Security.

The anticipated ground breaking on the embassy will be in 2013 with a goal to complete the construction in 2017.