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The Biden Administration has recently announced a new $90 million commitment in the form of competitive awards meant to help states and cities in their myriad attempts at mustering updated building codes into the country's patchwork response to climate change. The funds are being taken from the... View full entry
The White House has announced that it is seeking the public’s help in understanding the risks posed by artificial intelligence to labor conditions. The public request for information (RFI), led by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, is centered on how AI tools are “used by... View full entry
In an effort to combat the crisis of homelessness nationwide, the Biden-Harris Administration has announced its new All In: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and Homelessness aimed at the "bold but achievable goal" of reducing the country’s unhoused population by 25% by the year 2025. The... View full entry
The American Institute of Architects has welcomed a move by the Biden Administration to introduce the first-ever Federal Building Performance Standard. Under the plans, buildings owned by the Federal government will cut energy use and electrify equipment across 30% of their building space by... View full entry
The Biden Administration has unveiled the first set of recommendations under its Federal Buy Clean Initiative, an undertaking that aims to drive the development of American-made, low-carbon construction materials, while also supporting job growth. During a visit to the Cleveland-Cliffs Direct... View full entry
The White House has announced the establishment of a task force to enhance the sustainability credentials of federally-funded buildings. The Buy Clean Task Force will promote the use of construction materials with lower embodied carbon emissions and pollutants across their lifecycle, including at... 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
First Lady Melania Trump has announced plans to spruce up the grounds of the White House Rose Garden. According to a report from The New York Times, the project will bring electrical upgrades, a new walkway, and new flowers and shrubs to the garden, which is situated between the West Wing... View full entry
President Donald Trump’s administration is looking at ways to convert a glut of commercial real estate resulting from the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing lockdowns, into affordable housing, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said Wednesday. — Bloomberg
HUD Secretary Ben Carson gave remarks on the unlikeliness of things going back to how they were before the pandemic, citing the greater number of people that will work from home in the future. As a result of that new reality, Carson said, according to Bloomberg, "That's going to free up a lot of... 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
Although there might sometimes appear to be a gulf between architects and preservationists, the two fields have a shared history and have often worked in tandem to the mutual benefit of one another. A case in point can be found during the second half of the 19th century, as both the historic... View full entry
Washington oversaw construction of the house while serving his two terms as president in New York and Philadelphia. He insisted that the President’s House be built of stone and embellished with extensive stone ornamentation...Washington requested alterations to the original design, adding the distinctive rose and acorn carved stone embellishments and cutting the building’s height. — National Geographic
The gutted interior of the White House, May 1950Abbie Rowe - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration Noel Grove, William B. Bushong and Joel D. Treese take us back to 1792, when James Hoban (born in Ireland) became the architect of the President's House. They also explore how the... View full entry
A sinkhole has formed on the North Lawn of the White House, and predictably, the temptation was too great for many on social media, who filled the void with all the “drain the swamp” jokes and metaphors one could imagine.
But forget the obvious political jabs and the fact that President Trump uses that phrase as a rallying cry about eliminating corruption in Washington: The saying has some geological merit.
— The New York Times
"The White House sits at the intersection of a Quaternary colluvium (base of steep slope) deposit & a Pleistocene fluvial (river) & estuarine deposit," Jess Phoenix, a volcanologist, geologist, and... View full entry
A real dump,” is how Donald Trump is said to have described the White House he inherited from the Obama administration. For a man used to inhabiting a penthouse fantasy land of golden columns, heaving chandeliers and cherubs tumbling from the ceilings, the decor at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue must have seemed a bit drab. So he took the opportunity of his summer vacation to call in the decorators for a $3.4m (£2.6m) overhaul, the results of which have been unveiled this week. — The Guardian
Perhaps because the president and his family don’t spend much time living in the White House, the interior changes, at least so far, have been few. Nevertheless, Trumps' recent redecorations include noticeable features like a change in wallpaper— from Obama's yellow candy-stripe to, handpicked... View full entry
While some presidents have had their personal opinions about the White House, it remains, nonetheless, a central piece of America’s identity.
And it remains, in the most literal sense of the word, for three major reasons, said David Fannon, assistant professor of architecture and civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern.
— News@Northeastern
While President Trump is on vacation, the White House is undergoing a $3.4 million West Wing renovation. Just over two centuries old, the home of the President has gone through as many changes as it has residents, maybe even more. David Fannon, an assistant professor of architecture at... View full entry
