President Donald Trump is setting his design preferences as the standard for how federal buildings should look.<\/p>\n
An executive order<\/a> Trump signed on Thursday sets classical architecture buildings, including the White House and the Capitol, as the \u201cpreferred and default\u201d style for most federal buildings.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s executive order on \u201cMaking Federal Architecture Beautiful Again\u201d singles out brutalist and modernist architecture as styles that have fallen out of favor, and should not be considered for most federal construction projects.<\/p>\n \u201cA majority of American taxpayers want classical, regionally inspired public buildings that beautify public spaces, and their government should respect their preferences,\u201d the White House wrote in a fact sheet.<\/a><\/p>\n ]]><\/p>\n Trump pursued a similar policy during his first term in office, but former President Joe Biden rescinded it soon after taking office.<\/p>\n On the campaign trail, Trump said in 2023 that he would \u201cget rid of ugly buildings,\u201d and \u201creturn to the magnificent classical style of Western civilization.\u201d<\/p>\n The second Trump administration has already taken steps to get rid of brutalist federal buildings. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is moving out of its headquarters<\/a> in downtown D.C. and plans to sell the building.<\/p>\n HUD Secretary Scott Turner told Fox News in March<\/a> that the agency\u2019s headquarters was the \u201cugliest building in D.C.\u201d<\/p>\n HUD plans to relocate to the National Science Foundation\u2019s headquarters<\/a> in Alexandria, Virginia. NSF has not yet found new office space for its displaced employees.<\/p>\n In May, the Public Buildings Reform Board recommended selling the Energy Department\u2019s headquarters<\/a> building, located south of the National Mall. The board advises the General Services Administration on which federal buildings it should offload from its portfolio.<\/p>\n In March, GSA briefly added the Energy Department\u2019s headquarters<\/a> to its list of more than 400 \u201cnon-core assets\u201d designated for sale or disposal. A current version of that list now includes several dozen government buildings.<\/p>\n ]]><\/p>\n GSA, which oversees the federal real estate portfolio, will oversee implementation of the executive order. But it doesn\u2019t have a permanent leader yet.<\/p>\n Michael Rigas, the deputy secretary of state for management and resources, took over as GSA\u2019s acting administrator<\/a> in July. The previous acting administrator, Stephen\u00a0Ehikian, is now serving as GSA\u2019s deputy administrator.<\/p>\n Michael Peters, former commissioner of GSA\u2019s Public Buildings Service and a self-described \u201crepresentative\u201d for the Department of Government Efficiency,\u00a0left the agency last month, just a week before the agency was scheduled to implement a reorganization plan.<\/p>\n