Sir, - You report that the British Embassy on Dublin's Merrion Road is in the running for a prize in an EU architectural competition organised by the Royal Institute of British Architects. This news must surely be out of the same joke book as the environmental award given to Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing Plant two months ago.Has the Royal Institute actually looked at the embassy yet? As the many thousands of Dubliners who went there last month to pay their respects to Princess Diana found out, this building is an insult to the residents of the area. It has been variously described as looking like a prison, a munitions factory and a fire-brigade depot. It has an aggressive, surly, unwelcoming aspect. The hard, angular design and the cold, clinical, modern materials used are completely at odds with the other gracious buildings on Merrion Road.If the Royal Institute should award a prize for this carbuncle on the face of Merrion Road, then insult will have been added to the injury. - Yours, etc.,Rodney Devitt,Tritonville Road,Dublin 4.