Assessment: U.S. Office Building in Moscow

Abstract

On October 30, 1986, the United States Congress directed the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) to conduct an independent analysis of the new United States Embassy Office Building being constructed in Moscow. The analysis was to include “…an assessment of the current structure and recommendations and cost estimates for correcting any structural flaws and construction defects….” This paper describes the history of the building project, the site and building, and the process of investigation, which included field, laboratory and analytical studies, and its findings. The investigation identified important structural defects in the building and defined remedial measures to correct them. While important, these structural defects, in comparison to the total structural system, are modest in scale and fully correctable. Companion papers describe the assessments of the structural system, the masonry enclosure, and the potential for progressive collapse.