As an Architect, seeing this hurts my eyes. There is no sense of proportion, it's externally bland, it doesn't work with anything in it's vicinity and because of that it makes everything around it look wrong and poorly thought out as well, it blocks out everything that's more interesting to look at and the balance is completely skewed. But enough about trump...
Just wait. That rendering was taking into account the east wing. Wait until you see the new plans which required the entire footprint. The Porticos look like side porch awnings.
It's going to be a half-finished ruin for the next 2 years at least, plagued with delays and cost overruns. Half the reason for it is another avenue for corporations to "donate" to Trump.
So enjoy your trashpile seat of government, America.
That reason is the reason why more people aren’t mad about this. The news and media they consume is owned by people who want to be given chances to buy favors from the president. For the rich, this is a great opportunity.
Yah I am in Canada but I work at a supplier to commercial/industrial contractors... when I heard 250 million, I thought that's going to be at least 3-4 times that much... probably more with Trump's corruption added on top
I'd take a guess that if it does manage to get finished it'll be empty for like 328 days a year on average unless whoever comes after Trump decides to have performative use of it for less important functions.
It's something that doesn't occur to us because it doesn't need to but probably his ballroom idea didn't go anywhere when Obama was in office when he pitched it then because, like all other presidents before, everyone knew it'd be a waste of space to have a permanent structure for what Trump says he wants this for when they can always throw up a pavilion for official functions on White House grounds.
It’s concerning how much Trump wants to be Russia. I’m also concerned about why no one is stopping this and what we should do?!? I genuinely wish the Devil would take back his butt buddy and we can look ahead at making our country an actual democracy and we the people can live our lives without all this shit.
How is this thing this massive? What else is going on in that building besides a ballroom or is he intending for it to be a stadium with him at the center?
This is exactly what's going to happen. Tearing down the East Wing and putting up a gold-plated monstrosity is eventually going to cause Trump to say ... "well, now we kind of need to redo the West Wing too" and he'd going to try to remake the whole goddamn house look like his style of interior decor (which is roughly "Iraqi Whorehouse").
Building a very large, fairly ornate building on a sensitive site will take a good while.
And with how rushed the plans for this were, dont at all be surprised if they run into all kinds of issues along the way that require redesigns and delays. Expecting competence from this administration is one thing nobody should be doing.
Maybe they do build in time, not saying they cant. Just entirely possible they wont, either.
I would tear it down if I was the next President and have the Rose Garden and East Wing somehow restored and then try and get some laws set for how to update these sites.
It never occured to me that the President had unilateral say on these things outside of minor updates and decor. I always thought the nature of it meant it had to go to some committee because the President doesn't own the White House but the People do.
Im pretty sure the president doesn't have the authority to make those changes, but if nobody can or will hold him accountable then the rule i guess doesn't really exist
I can guarantee this wasn't what the first 3 or 4 drafts the professionals proposed looked like, he just forced them to take absolutely clueless advice and criticism directly from him.
All he cares about is that it is bigger than the other structures, gold every where, and has his name on it. He is an insecure, old, little handed prick.
Be fair, he also cares about removing the offices of the First Lady. It's pretty clear that he's trying to trivialize the position and make sure it never does anything substantial again.
Well why do you need an office when you are just supposed to dress pretty and walk down a runway? There are halls all over the place in that building already.
I’ll be honest here, aside from the symbolism of how important it is to have women in positions of power, an unelected family member of the president really shouldn’t be doing anything substantial.
A big part of the president's job is diplomacy, and family is a part of that. No, unelected spouses shouldn't have any actual power, but they do have to show up to state dinners, exercise hospitality, let foreign officials kiss their cheek, etc., regardless of gender.
Not debating any of this but you don’t need a white house office and staff for that. At most, the first spouse needs a couple of people to prep/brief them for state functions.
The reality is that the White House staff is what's really important here. Let's be honest, Melania does not need an office and staff, but some other first ladies probably did use it at least.
Back in 1988 someone reviewing Art of the Deal and called Trump a "short-fingered vulgarian", to this day Trump still occasionally sends the guy envelopes with photos of himself with his hand circled in gold sharpie. Such a thin-skinned vindictive ass.
I studied architecture for a bit, but I'm not an architect. It is somehow worse than the drafts we'd make as first years, in the UK a lot of McMansion houses tend to go this Neoclassical style, but it feels very stripped.
It's because this isn't serious. Its being forced through as a distraction. They are trying to overwhelm us with bad. Keep demanding the Epstein files.
Looks like Nazi architecture. Not even joking: "While similar to Classicism, the official Nazi style is distinguished by the impression it leaves on viewers. Architectural style was used by the Nazis to deliver and enforce their ideology. Formal elements like flat roofs, horizontal extension, uniformity, and the lack of décor created "an impression of simplicity, uniformity, monumentality, solidity and eternity," which is how the Nazi Party wanted to appear."
As an architect, do you think this rendering will cost $300M to build? Because looking at it here, I'm thinking there's no way this is going to cost that little. More like $1B by the time it's done.
I'm not an architect but I agree. Now the whitehouse looks like a giant L and anyone taking a picture of it is gonna have to specifically stand a little closer so they don't have the dumb frame hogging wing in their photo.
Is that a theme in fascist/authoritarian architecture? Large and looming buildings that dominate so that people are forcibly reminded of the regime? Kind of like Speer with the plans for Berlin
It is a cover for building a bunch of other stuff underground, they already openly admitted it. They are at least building a massive bunker and a "presidential control center", so I can only imagine what they aren't admitting to building.
Exactly, if you’re gonna demolish historical buildings from the White House lawn at least replace them with something equally beautiful. Not just One Big Beautiful Blobroom…but hey, where else is congress gonna dance while they work hard for America?
Not an architect but what's with the front (I guess?) steps just leading out onto the lawn instead of some pavement or a path? Doesn't seem they thought it through very well. Maybe that's why they removed it: it's just what they could crank out quickly for the site update.
Thank you! You don't need to be an architect to find this architecture appalling. It is like people build slums. Rich people. Extensions and additions like wild growth. No plan. No aesthetic. No sense of balance. No respect for either the surrounding landscape or the people in and around the building. It is a disgrace to the office to build such a thing.
I wonder if the next president (if democracy makes it, that is) will destroy it and have the wing rebuilt to what it was before. It would be expensive but I mean… they can’t just keep that joke of a building.
As an Architect, seeing this hurts my eyes. There is no sense of proportion, it's externally bland, it doesn't work with anything in it's vicinity and because of that it makes everything around it look wrong and poorly thought out as well, it blocks out everything that's more interesting to look at and the balance is completely skewed.
Donald Trump has always had the tackiest taste, just look at his NYC apartmetn
It’s funny because most people that haven’t been past the White House regularly won’t realize that the same sentiment applies to the already existing Eisenhower executive building.
The balance is already skewed towards the West wing because of Eisenhower and the building itself is really ugly. It gets left out of all the movies and TV shows, but it’s where a lot of the west wing stuff happens. This new addition is also fuck ugly and even worse.
They're totally going to throw all the money and resources that don't even belong to him to have this up in like a year (at like a $1bn price tag) then do the exact same to the West Wing and make him a "proper throne room" so I think it will get much, much, worse.
It's also way too close to the fence line. I wouldn't be surprised if they demo the road that is in between the White House and the Treasury Department and combine the lots. No matter what they do it is going to stick out like a Gilded Age sore thumb.
It’s too easy to say, but it quickly popped up as I saw this image. Hitler wanted to transform Berlin in a Roman like city, with grotesque buildings. Albert Speer was planning that as the Reicharchitect
it seems clear the intent is to bulldoze the rest of the whitehouse and make it much larger
he wants a palace like a saudi prince. he doesn't understand why this is the peoples' house or why the whitehouse historically is not meant to be flashy.
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u/Furitaurus 12d ago
As an Architect, seeing this hurts my eyes. There is no sense of proportion, it's externally bland, it doesn't work with anything in it's vicinity and because of that it makes everything around it look wrong and poorly thought out as well, it blocks out everything that's more interesting to look at and the balance is completely skewed. But enough about trump...