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The appointment of military engineer Thomas Austin as the next Architect of the Capitol has been announced by a 12-member bipartisan commission of lawmakers in Washington, D.C. Austin, a retired Army veteran and the former Director of Engineering at Arlington National Cemetery, will assume... View full entry
Proactive measures to prevent a repeat of the recent misconduct saga that led to the firing of former Architect of the Capitol Brett Blanton have been introduced in Congress as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the upcoming fiscal year. Under the new bipartisan legislation... View full entry
President Biden on Monday fired J. Brett Blanton, the federal official responsible for the maintenance and operation of the Capitol complex, amid bipartisan calls for his resignation, after an investigative report accusing him of misusing his position and revelations that he avoided the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. — The New York Times
Blanton, who had faced calls for removal over accusations about abuse of government property while in office, was only recently revealed to have been in absentia on the afternoon of January 6th. Speculation had remained over the President’s willingness to remove the AOC from the 10-year... View full entry
Beleaguered Architect of the Capitol J. Brett Blanton shocked members of Congress on Thursday by admitting he was not on Capitol grounds for the tumultuous January 6th attacks during a query into alleged ethics violations while in office. At a special hearing called by members of the House... View full entry
Embattled Architect of the Capitol J. Brett Blanton could be getting one step closer to being forced out of his job after the outgoing 117th Congress finally proposed last-minute legislation that would make it easier for the Trump appointee to be removed from office following an Inspector... View full entry
The federal Architect of the Capitol is under scrutiny for ethics violations after apparently using his office to give “patriotic” private tours in the weeks leading up to the contentious elections of November 2020. The Washington Post is reporting that Trump appointee J. Brett Blanton is now... View full entry
The House Select Committee on Congressional Modernization has approved select recommendations first provided to that body by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) during a recent hearing on March 17. A slate of proposals for updating Congressional office space was originally put... View full entry
The top operations and maintenance official of the United States Capitol told lawmakers on Wednesday that the costs of the Jan. 6 attack will exceed $30 million, as his office works to provide mental health services, increase security and repair historical statues and other art damaged in the riot. — The New York Times
Video via nytimes.com View full entry
LEGO Architecture Studio celebrated its big launch in retail stores everywhere back in 2013 with the monochromatic Architectural Toolbox and a collection of LEGO-brick model kits of the world's most famous buildings. Although LEGO Architecture retired some of the kits over time, they recently... View full entry
It is fervently hoped that when the 45th president takes the oath of office outside the Capitol on 20 January 2017, a $60m project to restore the building’s august cast-iron dome will have been completed. [...]
“There’s never been a major renovation of the dome. It’s important work and was long overdue. It apparently has a thousand cracks and pieces have been falling off for years but, once this work is done, it should be good for another 150 years.
— theguardian.com
Related stories in the Archinect news:U.S. Capitol building to receive much-needed faceliftTurns out the Washington Monument is shorter than we thoughtHistory breaks down the Lincoln Memorial’s bizarre rejected designs View full entry
Since the Civil War, the majestic dome of the U.S. Capitol has symbolized the unity of the United States, despite the discord in the government it overlooks. [...]
But the dome has lately grown as fractured as the federal government, and Tuesday the Architect of the Capitol announced that a $59 million project to save it would begin next month. [...]
There are now hundreds of cracks and deficiencies, and water already has stained parts of the Capitol’s interior.
— The Washington Post
