April 26, 2021
There is no greater public expression of ideology, culture, or society than the architecture that we live with and see daily. President Trump acknowledged this with his executive order to “Make Federal Buildings Beautiful Again.” Britain also notes its importance with the inception of the “Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission.”
Surprisingly, such attempts to restore and revive classical architecture have spawned a culture war in the field of architecture. Within 100 days of taking office, Joe Biden has already rescinded President Trump’s executive order, striking a victory for modernist and brutalist architectural designs.
This battle, in which classicists argue for more Western-classical buildings instead of contemporary styles, is unique amongst other cultural struggles. Why? Because, at least in this case, “conservatives” are on the offensive.
Here’s Hoping for Beauty in America: Classicism Versus Modernism in Architecture
One of Donald Trump’s final acts as the nation’s 45th president was to sign an executive order called “Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture.” He signed the order on Dec. 18, 2020, but it had been kicking around for many months since it was leaked from the White House last winter as a draft proposal with the more Trumpian title of “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again.”
At the time, it elicited raspberries from architects of all stripes but support from some, possibly most, classicists. Recently, on Feb. 24, Biden issued his own executive order canceling his predecessor’s tip of the hat toward beauty.
Brutalism is back, baby.
President Joe Biden revoked several of former president Trump s executive actions on Wednesday, including the administration s attempt to give modern architecture in federal buildings the boot in favor of classical styles like Greco-Roman columns.
The first draft of the original executive action obtained by Architectural Record last year entitled Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again, used language like just plain ugly to describe the boxy buildings downtown. Brutalist architecture is scattered across the District, including at the J. Edgar Hoover building where the FBI is headquartered; the U.S. Department of Energy building; and of course, the city s many Metro stations.
Biden Administration Overturns Executive Order Mandating a Federal Architecture Style architectmagazine.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from architectmagazine.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Architecture Groups Call on Biden to Revoke ‘Classical Buildings’ Executive Order
This is one of the many lame duck executive orders President Trump has issued recently.
Architecture organizations are imploring the incoming Biden administration to rescind the executive order President Trump issued on Monday that requires classical architecture to be the preferred style for federal buildings.
The directive applies to all federal courthouses, agency headquarters, federal public buildings in Washington, D.C., and all other federal public buildings that cost or are anticipated to cost over $50 million to design and build (excluding infrastructure projects and land ports of entry). A draft of the order, initially titled “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again,” was leaked to the publication the