The project involves the design of an Australian embassy within the context of Pretoria, South Africa. The program of the embassy includes the provision of three key building functions: residential, chancellery and common public realms. The embassy is rooted to six key objectives that emerged through early research:
_ the building is to function as a democratic monument;
_ to have a commitment to public accessibility;
_ to adopt a sensitivity to history;
_ to reinstate and reactivate the internalised arcade network and project outwards;
_ to engage, extend and contribute to the broader community;
_ and to respond to the multiple grains of the urban diagram identified (streets/ malls and laneways/ arcades).

These key issues manifest themselves within the resolved design through a number of formal architectural solutions, which can be described through a number of key architectural responses: the integration of a dual terrain; considered notions of gathering; public engagement and urban journey and spatial qualities.

The notion of land and topography holds great significance both contextually and historically. Historically, the past existence of apartheid is written into the urban form. Contextually, the presence of the fine grain arcade network bears a strong relationship to the ground plane. The design notes the integration of a dual ground plane in an effort to reinstate a sense of place, and provide green public space for broader community, currently absent within the immediate site surrounds. This agenda assists in achieving security and establishes a formal diagram that sets up the organisation of public and private realms.