Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture
| Published date | 23 December 2020 |
| Citation | 85 FR 83739 |
| Record Number | 2020-28605 |
| Section | Presidential Documents |
| Court | Executive Office Of The President |
Presidential Documents
83739
Federal Register
Vol. 85, No. 247
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
Title 3—
The President
Executive Order 13967 of December 18, 2020
Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the
laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Purpose. Societies have long recognized the importance of beautiful
public architecture. Ancient Greek and Roman public buildings were de-
signed to be sturdy and useful, and also to beautify public spaces and
inspire civic pride. Throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, public
architecture continued to serve these purposes. The 1309 constitution of
the City of Siena required that ‘‘[w]hoever rules the City must have the
beauty of the City as his foremost preoccupation . . . because it must provide
pride, honor, wealth, and growth to the Sienese citizens, as well as pleasure
and happiness to visitors from abroad.’’ Three centuries later, the great
British Architect Sir Christopher Wren declared that ‘‘public buildings [are]
the ornament of a country. [Architecture] establishes a Nation, draws people
and commerce, makes the people love their native country . . . Architecture
aims at eternity[.]’’
Notable Founding Fathers agreed with these assessments and attached great
importance to Federal civic architecture. They wanted America’s public
buildings to inspire the American people and encourage civic virtue. Presi-
dent George Washington and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson consciously
modeled the most important buildings in Washington, DC, on the classical
architecture of ancient Athens and Rome. They sought to use classical archi-
tecture to visually connect our contemporary Republic with the antecedents
of democracy in classical antiquity, reminding citizens not only of their
rights but also their responsibilities in maintaining and perpetuating its
institutions.
Washington and Jefferson personally oversaw the competitions to design
the Capitol Building and the White House. Under the direction and following
the vision of these two founders, Pierre Charles L’Enfant designed the Na-
tion’s capital as a classical city. The promise of his design for the city
was fulfilled by the 1902 McMillan Plan, which created the National Mall
and the Monumental Core as we know them.
For approximately a century and a half following America’s founding, Amer-
ica’s Federal architecture continued to be characterized by beautiful and
beloved buildings of largely, though not exclusively, classical design. Exam-
ples include the Second Bank of the United States in Philadelphia, Pennsyl-
vania, the Pioneer Courthouse in Portland, Oregon, and the Thurgood Mar-
shall United States Courthouse in New York City, New York. In Washington,
DC, classical buildings such as the White House, the Capitol Building,
the Supreme Court, the Department of the Treasury, and the Lincoln Memo-
rial have become iconic symbols of our system of government. These cher-
ished landmarks, built to endure for centuries, have become an important
part of our civic life.
In the 1950s, the Federal Government largely replaced traditional designs
for new construction with modernist ones. This practice became official
policy after the Ad Hoc Committee on Federal Office Space proposed what
became known as the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture (Guiding
Principles) in 1962. The Guiding Principles implicitly discouraged classical
and other traditional designs known for their beauty, declaring instead that
the Government should use ‘‘contemporary’’ designs.
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The Federal architecture that ensued, overseen by the General Services Ad-
ministration (GSA), was often unpopular with Americans. The new buildings
ranged from the undistinguished to designs even GSA now admits many
in the public found unappealing. In Washington, DC, new Federal buildings
visibly clashed with the existing classical architecture. Some of these struc-
tures, such as the Hubert H. Humphrey Department of Health and Human
Services Building and the Robert C. Weaver Department of Housing and
Urban Development Building, were controversial, attracting widespread criti-
cism for their Brutalist designs.
In 1994, GSA responded to this widespread criticism that the buildings
it had been commissioning lacked distinction by establishing the Design
Excellence Program. The GSA intended that program to advance the Guiding
Principles’ mandate that Federal architecture ‘‘provide visual testimony to
the dignity, enterprise, vigor, and stability of the American Government.’’
Unfortunately, the program has not met this goal.
Under the Design Excellence Program, GSA has often selected designs by
prominent architects with little regard for local input or regional aesthetic
preferences. The resulting Federal architecture sometimes impresses the ar-
chitectural elite, but not the American people who the buildings are meant
to serve. Many of these new Federal buildings are not even visibly identifiable
as civic buildings.
For example, GSA selected an architect to design the San Francisco Federal
Building who describes his designs as ‘‘art-for-art’s-sake’’ architecture, in-
tended primarily for architects to appreciate. While elite architects praised
the resulting building, many San Franciscans consider it one of the ugliest
structures in their city. Similarly, GSA selected a modernist architect to
design Salt Lake City’s new Federal courthouse. The architectural establish-
ment and its professional organizations praised his unique creation, but
many local residents considered it ugly and inconsistent with its sur-
roundings. In Orlando, Florida, a coalition of judges, court employees, and
civic leaders opposed GSA’s preferred modernist design for the George C.
Young Federal Courthouse. They believed it lacked the dignity a Federal
courthouse should embody. The GSA nonetheless imposed this design over
their objections.
With a limited number of exceptions, such as the Tuscaloosa Federal Building
and Courthouse and the Corpus Christi Federal Courthouse, the Federal
Government has largely stopped building beautiful buildings. In Washington,
DC, Federal architecture has become a discordant mixture of classical and
modernist designs.
It is time to update the policies guiding Federal architecture to address
these problems and ensure that architects designing Federal buildings serve
their clients, the American people. New Federal building designs should,
like America’s beloved landmark buildings, uplift and beautify public spaces,
inspire the human spirit, ennoble the United States, command respect from
the general public, and, as appropriate, respect the architectural heritage
of a region. They should also be visibly identifiable as civic buildings
and should be selected with input from the local community.
Classical and other traditional architecture, as practiced both historically
and by today’s architects, have proven their ability to meet these design
criteria and to more than satisfy today’s functional, technical, and sustainable
needs. Their use should be encouraged instead of discouraged.
Encouraging classical and traditional architecture does not exclude using
most other styles of architecture, where appropriate. Care must be taken,
however, to ensure that all Federal building designs command respect of
the general public for their beauty and visual embodiment of America’s
ideals.
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Sec. 2. Policy. (a) Applicable Federal public buildings should uplift and
beautify public spaces, inspire the human spirit, ennoble the United States,
and command respect from the general public. They should also be visually
identifiable as civic buildings and, as appropriate, respect regional architec-
tural heritage. Architecture—with particular regard for traditional and clas-
sical architecture—that meets the criteria set forth in this subsection is
the preferred architecture for applicable Federal public buildings. In the
District of Columbia, classical architecture shall be the preferred and default
architecture for Federal public buildings absent exceptional factors necessi-
tating another kind of architecture.
(b) Where the architecture of applicable Federal public buildings diverges
from the preferred architecture set forth in subsection (a) of this section,
great care and consideration must be taken to choose a design that commands
respect from the general public and clearly conveys to the general public
the dignity, enterprise, vigor, and stability of America’s system of self-
government.
(c) When renovating, reducing, or expanding applicable Federal public
buildings that do not meet the criteria set forth in subsection (a) of this
section, the feasibility and potential expense of building redesign to meet
those criteria should be examined. Where feasible and economical, such
redesign should be given substantial consideration, especially with regard
to the building’s exterior.
(d) GSA should seek input from the future users of applicable public
buildings and the general public in the community where such buildings
will be located before selecting an architectural firm or design style.
Sec. 3. Definitions. For the purposes of this order:
(a) ‘‘Applicable Federal public building’’ means:
(i) all Federal courthouses and agency headquarters;
(ii) all Federal public buildings in the District of Columbia; and
(iii) all other Federal public buildings that cost or are expected to cost
more than $50 million in 2020 dollars to design, build, and finish, but
does not include infrastructure projects or land ports of entry.
(b) ‘‘Brutalist’’ means the style of architecture that grew out of the early
20th-century modernist movement that is characterized by a massive and
block-like appearance with a rigid geometric style and large-scale use of
exposed poured concrete.
(c) ‘‘Classical architecture’’ means the architectural tradition derived from
the forms, principles, and vocabulary of the architecture of Greek and Roman
antiquity, and as later developed and expanded upon by such Renaissance
architects as Alberti, Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, and Palladio; such Enlight-
enment masters as Robert Adam, John Soane, and Christopher Wren; such
19th-century architects as Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Robert Mills, and Thomas
U. Walter; and such 20th-century practitioners as Julian Abele, Daniel
Burnham, Charles F. McKim, John Russell Pope, Julia Morgan, and the
firm of Delano and Aldrich. Classical architecture encompasses such styles
as Neoclassical, Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Beaux-Arts, and Art Deco.
(d) ‘‘Deconstructivist’’ means the style of architecture generally known
as ‘‘deconstructivism’’ that emerged during the late 1980s that subverts
the traditional values of architecture through such features as fragmentation,
disorder, discontinuity, distortion, skewed geometry, and the appearance
of instability.
(e) ‘‘General public’’ means members of the public who are not:
(i) artists, architects, engineers, art or architecture critics, instructors or
professors of art or architecture, or members of the building industry;
or
(ii) affiliated with any interest group, trade association, or any other organi-
zation whose membership is financially affected by decisions involving
the design, construction, or remodeling of public buildings.
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(f) ‘‘Officer’’ has the meaning given that term in section 2104 of title
5, United States Code.
(g) ‘‘Public building’’ has the meaning given that term in section 3301(a)(5)
of title 40, United States Code.
(h) ‘‘Traditional architecture’’ includes classical architecture, as defined
herein, and also includes the historic humanistic architecture such as Gothic,
Romanesque, Pueblo Revival, Spanish Colonial, and other Mediterranean
styles of architecture historically rooted in various regions of America.
(i) ‘‘2020 dollars’’ means dollars adjusted for inflation using the Bureau
of Economic Analysis’s Gross Domestic Product price deflator and using
2020 as the base year.
Sec. 4. President’s Council on Improving Federal Civic Architecture. (a)
There is hereby established the President’s Council on Improving Federal
Civic Architecture (Council).
(b) The Council shall be composed of:
(i) all of the members of the Commission of Fine Arts;
(ii) the Secretary of the Commission of Fine Arts;
(iii) the Architect of the Capitol;
(iv) the Commissioner of the GSA Public Building Service;
(v) the Chief Architect of GSA;
(vi) other officers or employees of the Federal Government as the President
may, from time to time, designate; and
(vii) up to 20 additional members appointed by the President from among
citizens from outside the Federal Government to provide diverse perspec-
tives on the matters falling under the Council’s jurisdiction.
(c) The Council shall be chaired by a member of the Commission of
Fine Arts designated by the President. The Chair may designate a vice-
chair and may establish subcommittees.
(d) The members of the Council shall serve without compensation for
their work on the Council. However, members of the Council, while engaged
in the work of the Council, may receive travel expenses, including per
diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by law for persons serving intermit-
tently in the government service, pursuant to sections 5701 through 5707
of title 5, United States Code.
(e) To the extent permitted by law and within existing appropriations,
the Administrator of General Services (Administrator) shall provide such
funding and administrative and technical support as the Council may require.
The Administrator shall, to the extent permitted by law, direct GSA staff
to provide any relevant information the Council requests and may detail
such staff to aid the work of the Council, at the request of the Council.
(f) Insofar as the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C.
App.), may apply to the Council, any functions of the President under
that Act, except that of reporting to the Congress under section 6 of that
Act, shall be performed by the Administrator in accordance with the guide-
lines and procedures established by the Administrator.
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(g) The Council shall terminate on September 30, 2021, unless extended
by the President. Members appointed under subsections (b)(vi) and (b)(vii)
of this section shall serve until the Council terminates and shall not be
removed except for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance.
Sec. 5. Responsibilities of the Council. The Council shall:
(a) submit a report to the Administrator, recommending updates to GSA’s
policies and procedures to incorporate the policies of section 2 of this
order and advance the purposes of this order. The report shall explain
how the recommended changes accomplish these purposes. The report shall
be submitted prior to September 30, 2021.
(b) recommend to the Administrator changes to GSA policies for situations
in which the agency participates in a design selection pursuant to the
Commemorative Works Act (chapter 89 of title 40, United States Code),
in furtherance of the purposes of this order and consistent with applicable
law.
Sec. 6. Agency Actions. (a) The Administrator shall adhere to the policies
set forth in section 2 of this order.
(b) In the event the Administrator proposes to approve a design for a
new applicable Federal public building that diverges from the preferred
architecture set forth in subsection 2(a) of this order, including Brutalist
or Deconstructivist architecture or any design derived from or related to
these types of architecture, the Administrator shall notify the President
through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy not less than
30 days before GSA could reject such design without incurring substantial
expenditures. Such notification shall set forth the reasons the Administrator
proposes to approve such design, including:
(i) a detailed explanation of why the Administrator believes selecting
such design is justified, with particular focus on whether such design
is as beautiful and reflective of the dignity, enterprise, vigor, and stability
of the American system of self-government as alternative designs of com-
parable cost using preferred architecture;
(ii) the total expected cost of adopting the proposed design, including
estimated maintenance and replacement costs throughout its expected
lifecycle; and
(iii) a description of the designs using preferred architecture seriously
considered for such project and the total expected cost of adopting such
designs, including estimated maintenance and replacement costs through-
out their expected lifecycles.
Sec. 7. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed
to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency,
or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and
subject to the availability of appropriations.
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(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit,
substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party
against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers,
employees, or agents, or any other person.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 18, 2020.
[FR Doc. 2020–28605
Filed 12–22–20; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295–F1–P
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