This Grade II listed building was originally built in 1906–08 as the HQ for an international shipping company and now houses the Embassy of Brazil. Our brief was to preserve and highlight the building’s ornate architectural details, including the Portland stone front façade and interior mahogany panelling inlaid with mother of pearl. Simultaneously, we corrected decades of insensitive, poor quality interventions and created a new public access point and lobby space for visitors. The studio developed a contemporary, double-height steel insert as a new entryway at the previously unused and uninviting rear of the building that opens into a new three-storey lobby and waiting area, amplifying the building’s volume. The curved layout of the proposed service counters was influenced by both the freestyle classicism of the existing structure and reflects the ideals of Brazilian modernism.