Join us on Thursday, April 11 for the 2024 Michael I. and Patricia M. Sovern Lecture on Design as David B. Peterson, CEO of Onera Group, Inc. and the Executive Director of the Onera Foundation, will present "US Embassies of the Cold War: The Architecture of Democracy, Diplomacy and Defense."

During the Cold War, the US State Department used modern architecture as a powerful form of cultural diplomacy, designing embassies to express the American ideals of a progressive, democratic society. Peterson’s talk will expand on the little-known story of the US State Department’s bid to win international hearts and minds through the strategic use of modernist architecture and cultural diplomacy at the height of the international conflict between communism and democracy.