Archinect - News

Does America still need classical architecture?

2019-08-18T14:00:00-04:00

Perhaps, as a real-estate developer, President Trump might appreciate the richness of America’s heritage of classical public buildings. It’s not inconceivable that he would support reform of the Guiding Principles. Otherwise, U.S. senators and representatives should do all they can to ensure that classical principles guide future federal architecture projects. In doing so, they will be contributing to a renewal of American civilization.

During the administration of President John F. Kennedy, sociologist, politician, and diplomat Daniel Patrick Moynihan drafted the "Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture," a set of architectural guidelines that inform the design of building projects undertaken by the Public Building Service (PBS) and the General Services Administration's Design Excellence program.

For Moynihan, the principles reinforced an ideology of good design in federal building projects. Moynihan expressed, "The belief that good design is optional, or in some way separate from the question of the provision of office space itself, does not bear scrutiny, and in fact invites the least efficient use of public money."

Writing for City Journal, Catesby Leigh voices support for reinvigorating federal buildings through classical architecture and traditional design, which, Leigh argues, have already produced the U.S.'s most prominent civic structures.

Leigh writes: "The design of federal buildings should be guided...

Take a VR tour of the new L.A. Federal Courthouse, an “unusually polished work of civic architecture”

2016-10-25T20:01:00-04:00

The $350-million, 633,000-square-foot courthouse, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, is an unusually polished work of civic architecture — especially by the standards of Los Angeles...This is a building that wants to look respectable and rational but not staid, one that is fairly conventional on the horizontal plane and takes a significant if measured chance on the vertical one. Still, it’s a chance that pays off.

Christopher Hawthorne gives a thumbs up in his review of SOM's design for the now-completed Los Angeles U.S. Courthouse, which appears to “float” in mid-air. Don't forget to check out a virtual tour of the building in the video below.

Previously on Archinect:

LA Federal Courthouse under construction

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to Design Federal Courthouse

New U.S. Consulate General by SOM officially opens in Guangzhou

2014-03-05T19:03:00-05:00

U.S. and local Chinese officials gathered to host the ribbon-cutting of the new U.S. Consulate General today in Guangzhou, China. Perceived as a symbol of the bilateral relationship between the U.S. and China, companies from both countries collaborated on the $267 million project, which broke ground in October 2009 and was completed in June 2013.

Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill's San Francisco office designed the complex while BL Harbert International, LLC, of Birmingham, AL and China Huashi Enterprises, Ltd., of Chengdu, China were the project's contractors.

Located on a 7.4-acre site in Guangzhou's blossoming Business Center District near the Pearl River, the seven-building complex includes a 4-story main consular building for visa services and public events, an office building for 400 employees, a residence for U.S. Marines, a warehouse with service shops, three entrance pavilions.

Building façades and landscaped areas integrate local stones from the Fujian province as well as trees and...

Huge Subsidy for Stadium Architect

2011-04-25T23:29:37-04:00

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has decided to spend $1 million in federal grants — money that had been avidly sought by residents of Skid Row — to instead help out San Francisco–based Gensler, a 2,800-employee giant that enjoyed $463 million in revenue last year.