US Government plan to ban Modern Architecture in Federal buildings
Rob Curedale
President at Design Community College, Best selling author of 30 books, consultant, educator, facilitator, founder Linkedin groups with 2 million designer members, traveller. Helping creative people share good ideas
I usually avoid political discussions on social networking. In this case, I believe that all designers and architects should stand up and be heard to say that it is not the role of government to dictate the style of architecture or design. They are poorly qualified to make cultural judgments. To do so stifles progress and innovation.
A draft of an executive order called “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again” would establish a classical style, inspired by Greek and Roman architecture, as the default for federal buildings in Washington and many throughout the country, discouraging modern design.
The order, spearheaded by the National Civic Art Society, a nonprofit group that believes contemporary architecture has “created a built environment that is degraded and dehumanizing,” would rewrite the current rules that govern the design of office buildings, headquarters, and courthouses, or any federal building project contracted through the General Services Administration that costs over $50 million.
“For too long architectural elites and bureaucrats have derided the idea of beauty, blatantly ignored public opinions on style, and have quietly spent taxpayer money constructing ugly, expensive, and inefficient buildings,” Marion Smith, the group’s chairman, wrote in a text message. “This executive order gives voice to the 99 percent — the ordinary American people who do not like what our government has been building.”
In the 1930s the Bauhaus was considered decadent and was repressed. The great modernist architects and designers including Mies and Marcel Breuer came to the United States where they had the freedom to practice. Their ideas inspired generations of designers like Charles and Ray Eames. Trump's order would ban new modernist public buildings.
Modern architecture had its routes in Europe but defined the 20th century through work that was done in the United States.
Donald Trump's apartment in New York. Our President has a preference for French Baroque style.
Associate Professor in Design, Singapore Institute of Technology. Art & Science Practitioner, Ocean Innovator.
5 年That sounds so familiar, "Classic Architecture" proposed by the nostalgic, sickly egotistic, authoritarian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_architecture So we MUST resit:?https://www.citylab.com/design/2019/03/walter-gropius-bauhaus-art-school-nazi-germany-anniversary/583999/
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5 年Agreed, however, if designers want to be in the C-suite and sit at the board table, we must present and argue from our positions of expertise. It is probably just me that has wanted to debate Robert Venturi!
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5 年No, sir, he has a preference for tacky, kitch CRAP. People do not understand that the Greco-Roman revival is to show power and opression, as you showed in the article. However it is also a move that people make WHEN THEY HAVE NO CLUE about the space they want to live in.