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The AIA has expressed support for legislation recently re-introduced to the U.S. Congress, which seeks to prevent future administrations and the federal government from mandating preferred design styles for federal buildings. The organization had previously been critical of a 2020 decision by the... View full entry
The four new appointees will replace four commissioners who were installed by former President Donald Trump, who helped craft the controversial “Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture” executive order, which decried modern architecture and sought to make neoclassical architecture the... View full entry
Last year, Trump and his "make federal buildings beautiful again" executive order sent shockwaves across the architecture community. Trump had strong aversions towards modern architecture calling these buildings "ugly" and "uninspiring." Since Archinect's initial coverage on the classical... View full entry
In fact, America has beautiful and popular non-traditional structures – the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles – and it has crude and soulless classical buildings. Unfortunately, the authors of the order are not completely wrong when they say that some architects have ignored public feeling. — The Guardian
Rowan Moore, architecture critic at The Observer, responds to last week's presidential executive order that makes classical and traditional architecture the preferred style for federal buildings. "If architects don’t want to give ammunition to the repressive thinking behind this order," Moore... View full entry
The architecture community continues to respond to Trump's latest executive order promoting classical and traditional architecture as the "preferred style" for federal buildings. After signing the mandate at the tail end of his presidency, institutions and organizations have voiced their... View full entry
Following the signing of President Trump's new executive order that makes classical and traditional architecture the preferred style for federal buildings on Monday, the American Institute of Architects promptly responded with a public condemnation. "The AIA does not, and never will, prioritize... View full entry
With only 29 days of his White House mandate remaining, President Trump revisited a topic that had previously stoked sharp criticism from the architecture community and signed an executive order today that makes classical architecture the preferred style for federal buildings. The order opens with... View full entry
[...] the forces that his White House set in motion could outlive his administration: The GSA appears to have adopted a modernism ban, without any authorization in place. What seemed to be a pipe dream for admirers of classical architecture back in February now looks like procurement policy at the federal agency that manages office space and needs for the U.S. government. Design is already underway in Alabama for what might be Trump’s first mandatory classical courthouse. — Bloomberg CityLab
CityLab writer Kriston Capps on the current implications of the hotly debated, but ultimately never signed, "Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again" executive order the President floated back in February. View full entry
The United States General Services Administration (GSA) recently published a project solicitation notice for a planned federal courthouse in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area that mandates a "classical architectural style" for the facility. In response to the solicitation, the American... View full entry
President Donald Trump is pushing for congressional funding that would allow the General Services Administration (GSA) to undertake a long-delayed renovation and modernization plan for the White House West Wing. Included in a recent legislative framework floated by Republican senators aimed... View full entry
A bill introduced on July 13th by Nevada Representative Dina Titus aims to write the General Services Administration's "Guiding Principles" for federal architecture into federal law. The bill, titled the "Democracy in Design Act," represents an effort to stop the implementation the... View full entry
Following a rare show of bipartisan support, the Bird-Safe Buildings Act of 2019 has passed the United States House of Representatives and is now headed for consideration by the Senate. The bill would require "each public building constructed, acquired, or of which more than 50% of the facade is... View full entry
First Lady Melania Trump has shared an update on the construction progress for a new 1,200-square-foot tennis pavilion that is currently taking shape on the South Lawn of the White House. In a social media post published today, Trump writes, "I am excited to share the progress of the Tennis... View full entry
In a statement posted the American Institute of Architects (AIA) website, the organization explains that a group of former AIA presidents have written a letter directly to President Donald Trump denouncing the "Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again" executive order. Previously on... View full entry
A proposal such as “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again” potentially reduces an entire architectural philosophy to a caricature. Arbitrarily pasting columns and arches on a building so it looks like a Parthenon-Colosseum hybrid is pretentious — and doesn’t make the building classical. Designing classical buildings for the modern age is a complex process, requiring knowledge of construction, world architectural history and urbanism, as well as aesthetic judgment. — Washington Post
Writing in The Washington Post, Michael Lykoudis, Dean of the classical architecture-focused School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame, writes that the planned "Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again" executive order fills him with "great dismay." Evoking the... View full entry
