Published on January 20, 2025
This presidential memorandum directs the GSA Administrator to develop recommendations for ensuring federal buildings adhere to traditional and classical architectural styles, with a focus on making them visually identifiable as civic structures. The directive requires recommendations within 60 days and mandates notification if any proposed designs deviate from these principles, effectively centralizing control over federal architectural decisions in the executive branch.
While presented as an effort to "uplift and beautify" public spaces, this directive could serve as a mechanism for imposing ideological control over public architecture and limiting creative expression under the guise of traditionalism. The vague language around "regional, traditional, and classical architectural heritage" creates a subjective standard that could be used to reject designs based on personal preferences or political motivations, while the requirement for presidential notification of deviating designs establishes direct executive oversight of architectural decisions that traditionally remained with local authorities and professionals.
Although framed as an aesthetic initiative to enhance civic spaces, this memorandum effectively consolidates architectural decision-making power within the executive branch while potentially limiting diversity in federal architecture. The public should be particularly mindful of how this directive might be used to impose specific cultural or ideological preferences through architectural design, potentially at the expense of innovation and local architectural traditions.
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. 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.