Trump to sign executive order that federal buildings must adhere to Greek/Roman architecture

[Mrs. Overall]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/04/trump-federal-buildings-beautiful-classical-order

Donald Trump wants to “make federal buildings beautiful again” by mandating a return to “the classical architectural style”, according to a draft executive order obtained by Architectural Record on Tuesday.

The Record reported that it had obtained “what appears to be a preliminary draft of the order”. Under the order, it said, the White House would require a rewrite of the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture, issued in 1962, “to ensure that ‘the classical architectural style shall be the preferred and default style’ for new and upgraded federal buildings”.

Confirming to the Guardian that the Record was reporting a genuine draft document, the Pulitzer prize-winning architectural critic Paul Goldberger said the problem with the order was “not with classical architecture per se”. It was, he said, that “the mandating of an official style is not fully compatible with 21st-century liberal democracy”.

The Guiding Principles were written for John F Kennedy by the New York senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who died in 2003. They explicitly say “an official style must be avoided” and that new buildings should reflect their own time.

[shockey80]

1. Emperor Trump.

[Mrs. Overall]

5. That's exactly what I thought--Emperor.

[dalton99a]

2. NEXT: Trump orders federal documents to be dated "2020, Year 4 of Donald Trump"

[Bayard]

3. Is this the Onion again?

Seriously?

[Mrs. Overall]

8. It's for real. Now being reported by the NYT:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/arts/design/trump-modern-architecture.html

[DBoon]

4. The architecture of fascism

The President’s potential executive order comes as the latest salvo in an increasingly complex intellectual battle over the merits of traditional and modern architectures that has played out online over recent years.

Online, traditional architecture enthusiasts, white suprematists, and other groups have aligned their shared passions for classical aesthetics with sordid nationalist politics to consistently weaponize classical motifs under a variety of nativist mantles. Increasingly, classical orders, fluted columns, and dentilled cornices have come to symbolize not simply solid, timeless architectural motifs but also the “Whites Only” idealized version of the past these groups seek to celebrate today. As in other facets of federal policy, President Trump’s long-running embrace of nativist politics is, with the potential executive order, gesturing toward and growing to absorb these discourses into the country’s legal and regulatory apparatuses.

https://archinect.com/news/article/150182232/new-executive-order-could-make-classical-architecture-the-preferred-and-default-style-for-america-s-public-buildings

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. Oh wow

This real?!

[Mrs. Overall]

9. Yep. Reported now in the NYT:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/arts/design/trump-modern-architecture.html

[smirkymonkey]

7. Hmmm. Where have we seen this before?

[nolabear]

10. Because art is dangerous and the bill creates targets.

It’s an incredible waste of time, money and effort simply to control a “brand.”

I’m surprised they don’t have to be gold.

[Mrs. Overall]

11. This now makes sense why the GSA's chief architect suddenly resigned.

[Bayard]

12. So.....not the Onion

Beautiful to who? We all know tRump's artistic tastes come out of his ass. Does this mean it will be mandatory to redo interior decorating with his tacky gold-plate over everything?

Once again, this money is desperately needed elsewhere.

[jmowreader]

13. This will also make federal buildings much more expensive

[greatauntoftriplets]

14. Uh oh!

Chicago has three federal buildings, all designed by Ludwig Mies van de Rohe. Nobody tell Spanky about that!