Trump Call for “Traditional” Buildings Could Stifle Innovation, Architects Say

The American Institute of Architects (AIA), an organization representing more than 100,000 architects and design professionals globally, expressed worry over a memorandum issued by President Donald Trump this week calling for federal buildings to “respect regional, traditional, and classical architectural heritage.”

“AIA is extremely concerned about any revisions that remove control from local communities; mandate official federal design preferences, or otherwise hinder design freedom; and add bureaucratic hurdles for federal buildings,” reads a statement from the AIA published on January 21.

One of many executive orders, memorandums, and proclamations issued by Trump since his inauguration, including one terminating diversity programs at federally funded agencies and institutions, the “Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture” memo revives his 2020 ordinance requiring federal buildings to be constructed in the “classical” style, including Neoclassical, Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Beaux-Arts, and Art Deco. The ordinance was revoked by President Joe Biden in February 2021.

Announced on his first day in office, January 20, the new memo directs the acting Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) Stephen Ehikian (previously a vice president for AI products at the software company Salesforce) to deliver recommendations that advance this directive within 60 days.

The memo resumes Trump’s attacks on modern architecture, which he referred to as “undistinguished,” “uninspiring” and “just plain ugly” during his first term when he initially proposed to “Make Federal Buildings Beautiful Again.” The 2020 order was mainly propelled and in part written by the National Civic Arts Society, a conservative nonprofit organization advancing the belief that Modernist architecture has done “great damage to the aesthetic integrity” of the capital and strives “to end the hegemony of Modernism in federal architecture by advancing the classical and humanistic tradition.”

In its statement, the AIA asserted its support for the GSA’s Guiding Principles, which ensure that civic buildings respond to the interests of the people and communities they are meant to serve by promoting freedom in design.

While Trump’s directives could affect new federal buildings slated to be constructed, it remains to be seen how many of these projects will actually be undertaken and whether Congress will assert its authority over their aesthetics, Daniel Abramson, a professor of Architectural History at Boston University, told Hyperallergic.

“ The other place where it might have some direct effect might be on a few very prominent symbolic buildings,” Abramson explained. “For example, if there were any new museums that were going to be built on the mall … Even if the GSA wasn’t going to build them,  this order would politicize that.” 

“So, we probably wouldn’t get buildings that look like the new National Museum of African American History and Culture,” he said, referring to the Smithsonian member institution that opened in 2016. A collaboration of four design firms, the 400,000-square-foot museum aesthetically stands out from others on DC’s National Mall due to its striking inverted ziggurat structure, which is inspired by the traditional Yoruban Caryatid, and its bronze latticed surface, which harkens back to the 19th-century wrought ironwork mostly built by enslaved craftsmen.

With regards to preexisting structures, while demolition is unlikely due to the cost, Trump’s mandate may affect  modern buildings from the 1960s and ’70s that are in need of restoration or are eligible for landmark designation.

“ Obviously this executive order is going to mean that the federal government is not going to support their landmark status,” Abramson continued.

“This  feels like it is a tactic by the National Civil Arts Society  to try to forward their agenda in a way that ties what their aesthetic preferences to the Trump administration’s definition of what it means to be American,” Abramson said.