Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture
This presidential memorandum directs the General Services Administration (GSA) to recommend revisions to federal building design guidelines within 60 days.
The goal is to ensure that new federal buildings reflect regional architectural heritage, utilize traditional and classical styles, and enhance the aesthetic quality of public spaces.
The GSA must notify the President 30 days prior to approving any design diverging from this policy.
Arguments For
- Intended benefits: Enhancement of public spaces, promotion of national pride, reflection of regional architectural heritage, and improved aesthetic quality of federal buildings.
- Evidence cited: The memorandum doesn't cite specific evidence, but implicitly relies on the presumed value of traditional and classical architecture.
- Implementation methods: Recommendations to revise the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture and incorporate community input into design selections.
- Legal/historical basis: The President's authority to direct executive branch agencies.
Arguments Against
- Potential impacts: Potential increased costs due to design restrictions, potential delays in construction projects, potential exclusion of modern or innovative architectural styles, and potential for subjective interpretation of "traditional" and "classical" styles.
- Implementation challenges: Balancing the directive with existing regulations, obtaining community consensus on designs, and defining clear criteria for architectural styles.
- Alternative approaches: Focusing on sustainability and functional design, incorporating diverse architectural styles, and prioritizing cost-effectiveness.
- Unintended effects: Potential for stifling architectural innovation, creating uniformity in design across different regions, and overlooking the needs of modern building design.
January 20, 2025
MEMORANDUM FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE GENERAL SERVICES
ADMINISTRATION
SUBJECT: Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture
I hereby direct the Administrator of the General Services Administration, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and the heads of departments and agencies of the United States where necessary, to submit to me within 60 days recommendations to advance the policy that Federal public buildings should be visually identifiable as civic buildings and respect regional, traditional, and classical architectural heritage in order to uplift and beautify public spaces and ennoble the United States and our system of self-government. Such recommendations shall consider appropriate revisions to the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture and procedures for incorporating community input into Federal building design selections.
This memorandum, dated January 20, 2025, instructs the General Services Administration (GSA) administrator to submit recommendations within 60 days.
These recommendations should focus on a policy that emphasizes the visual identity of federal buildings as civic structures.
The policy also promotes consideration and respect for regional architectural traditions such as traditional and classical styles.
The GSA should consider how to better incorporate community input into the design selection process and how to modify the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture.
If, before such recommendations are submitted, the Administrator of the General Services Administration proposes to approve a design for a new Federal public building that diverges from the policy set forth in this memorandum, the Administrator shall notify me, through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, not less than 30 days before the General Services Administration could reject such design without incurring substantial expenditures. Such notification shall set forth the reasons the Administrator proposes to approve such design.
The GSA administrator must provide a 30-day notice to the President, via the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, before approving any new federal building design that contradicts the memorandum's policy.
This notice period applies only if the notification precedes the 60-day deadline for the recommendations and is intended to prevent significant financial commitments to projects that violate the guidelines before they can be reviewed.