Architectural Digest
According to Architectural Record, the Trump administration has allegedly begun drafting an executive order titled “Make Federal Buildings Beautiful Again,” which would dictate that “the classical architectural style shall be the preferred and default style” for any future construction of or renovations to federal buildings.
The document’s thesis is that classical architecture in the style of Roman and Greek antiquity is most attuned to the aesthetic traditions of the founding fathers. It criticizes the General Services Administration’s Design Excellence Program (responsible for “advocacy of quality in the federal built environment”) for its recent emphasis on designs “influenced by Brutalism and Deconstructivism.” Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects’ 2012 design of the U.S. Courthouse in Austin Texas and Morphosis Architects’ 2007 work on the U.S. Federal Building in San Francisco were specifically called out for possessing “little aesthetic appeal.” More
Only a man like PDJT would have the mojo to take this on – and succeed – with everything else on his plate.
The man is the second coming of George Washington.
about damned time! … the garbage monoliths that have been erected in DC the last 50 years are disgraceful socialist/communist, soul-crushing hives to the monument of the bureaucrat
Tucker Carlson had a great segment on this last night …
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6130674065001?playlist_id=5528578293001#sp=show-clips … go to the 35 minute mark
Brutalism and Deconstructivism. Just about says it all, huh.
Larry Arnn talks about this in many of his speeches. He talks a lot about the good, true and beautiful, and how malignant forces embrace the opposite — in history and in our country.
We (“okay”) Boomers remember a time when Walt Disney was still the force behind Disney and his film for young minds featuring the beauty of the Golden Mean in classical architecture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwYfuJfIgaw
But what do we know, we who are so anti-science?
DJT should do the same for future statues and monuments. The MLK memorial was sculpted from Chinese granite by an artist from the People’s Republic of China. It was partially funded to the tune of $25 Million dollars by the Chinese government and assembled entirely by Chinese laborers. The artist has created dozens of heroic depictions of Mao Zedong—is there any wonder why the MLK monument looks like a pissed-off commie?
Whatever happened to the hideous Obama library?
PatriciaRMcGee — Check out this link: https://www.rif.org/
So how does that affect the portraits of Big Mike and Barry?
Onery1@
I did not know that about the MLK statue. It seems to be true.
If I was trying to be funny I would say, “Maybe someone should look up its ass to see if it has a secret listening device.”
What I will say is, ” It is sad that someone could not find an African American sculptor to create such an important work.”
The reality however is that since most current art is “interpretive”, “modern”, “performance” etc. there was no one left to create a realistic image of MLK.
See Big Mike’s portrait for reference.
It should have been made in the USA! Even if African artists from Africa carved it, it would have been great.
This is a good idea. A better idea is to continue to decentralize agencies OUT of DC. The swamp doesn’t seem to like that.
Cast a gander at the House Office Buildings – the generation from the Cannon (1908) to the Longworth (1933) to the Rayburn (1965) to the Ford (built in 39 acquired by the House in 75) to get an idea of degeneration … or maybe utilitarianism.
The Ford, originally owned by the FBI, is one butt-ugly, shitty-to-heat-and-cool, monstrosity.
Look at the Census Bureau out in Suitland, MD – about the ugliest bunch of buildings on Earth (I think built during the War – so they have kind of a block-house/barracks look).
Really can’t compete with the Roman Library at Ephesus – or the Parthenon.
izlamo delenda est …
Wish there was a way to make the occupants of federal buildings ethically pleasing.
^^^ For a lot of ’em it’s called a cemetery!
Put a gallows and guillotine in front of each one to remind the occupants what happens if they commit treason. In fact put the same in front of the FBI, CIA, DOJ, and congress.
This one had the libs in the studio I work in FIT TO BE TIED this past Thursday. I mean crazy! The word dictator was brought up! Unhinged.
I told them “okay no architecture by government decree than no National Endowment of the Arts or NPR for that matter.
A former partner sent out an ALERT to ALL, from the AIA, saying we MUST protest this!
I’ll be sending along MY support! For the Classics.
Modernism, for the most part sucks, and we all know a Federal building when we see one, well one of those older ones prior to the Brutalism and Decon per @AA, the ones with the big columns out in front.