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A special symposium October 24

  • 1.  A special symposium October 24

    Posted 09-25-2025 06:03 PM

    All, UMass Brut https://sites.google.com/umass.edu/umassbrut is convening an all-day symposium on challenges and opportunities for the Brutalist Academic Library.  A roster of iconic and lesser known buildings!!

     

    This will be held at U Mass Boston on October 24, a full day interrogation of dilemmas and breakthroughs... Several case studies and presenters will be offering new perspectives.

     

    I will chair the architectural panel, but the librarians panel should be very revealing-about the day to day ways that they plan for a library of the future within these now 50-year-old landmarks and resources.

     

    Here's the symposium link: https://sites.google.com/umass.edu/umassbrut/symposium-2025

     

    Hope to see you there!

     



  • 2.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 09-28-2025 12:18 AM
    I have a comment & question. I have seen the proposed concept design for the new ballroom for the White House in Washington, D.C.

     The new ballroom / White House addition design, (in my opinion), is out of scale & proportion with the White House. 

    The proposed design detracts, in scale, proportion and building to its site and orientation. The truth is the proposed building addition does NOT belong with the White House. 

    My question is does, (or will) the AIA have a formal decision or statement about the building being proposed to be added to one of the most historic & iconoclastic buildings in America?

    Do you have any thoughts about my comments? We, the AIA are & should be the arbiters of design for America. 

    Terry H.  Brooks
    Terry H. Brooks, Assc. AIA, MLAI
    President / CEO
    Development Services, LLC
    202-510-2740



    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 09-28-2025 12:43 PM
    Edited by Robert Burns, AIA 09-28-2025 12:43 PM

    AIA Press Release:

    AIA Advocates for Preservation and Transparency in Proposed $200 Million White House Expansion

    The American Institute of Architects remove preview
    AIA Advocates for Preservation and Transparency in Proposed $200 Million White House Expansion
    AIA has issued a formal recommendation to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House regarding the proposed $200 million East Ballroom addition to
    View this on The American Institute of Architects >



    ------------------------------
    Robert Burns, AIA
    2025 Chair
    Historic Resources Committee Advisory Group
    Richmond, VA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 09-28-2025 01:21 PM
    I applaud & support the comments, approach & recommendations of the AIA on this subject!




    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 09-29-2025 05:41 PM
    Edited by John Prokop, Assoc. AIA 10-02-2025 08:03 AM

    I believe the AIA should express more firmly their opposition to the apparent skirting of standards, norms and procedures where the People's House is concerned.  According to the latest reports, the ballroom has now grown to 120,000 square feet and will dramatically dwarf the massing, scale and character of the Whitehouse in direct opposition to the Secretary of the Interior's Standards. Site preparation seems to have begun without any permits, and historic trees have already been destroyed without National Park Service permission or guidance. A more drastic reaction is warranted, in this writer's opinion. 



    ------------------------------
    John Prokop Assoc. AIA
    Rowe Architects
    Tampa FL
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 09-30-2025 05:34 PM
    I agree what is happening with the Ballroom replacing the East Wing of the White house inappropriate in many design issues and violates many laws and procedures. While the AIA’s statements are meaningful they lack the ability change anything that is already underway. I wonder if the Federal Courts would consider the AIA to have “standing” to file a law suit to stop the work and require the applicable laws and procedures regarding approvals and procurement be followed. There’s no other course of action I can think of.

    RK Stewart FAIA
    Salt Lake City, UT


    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-02-2025 05:17 AM
    I suggest the following actions be undertaken by the AIA:

    1. Collectively send our comments contained in this thread to the President & Executive Board and request they make a formal statement in opposition to this project and include to logical design reasons why the addition should NOT be built and state the adverse and consequential reasons this building will have on the Historic Monumental Core of The Nation's Capital now and in perpetuity if not stopped
    2. Request the AIA join with the following other design arbiter organizations and request an injunction to stop the construction of this building ASAP: (A) The National Trust for Historic Preservation; (B) The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA); National Park Service (NPS) & Park Advocate Organizations.  (solicit; probably without much support because of politics: the support) the Architect of the Capitol; the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC); The Commission of Fine Arts (CFA); The BOCA Executive Director & Board members (I wonder if the CDs for this building underwent any permit or building code reviews); and environmental advocate groups.
    3. Request each and every of the aforementioned organizations engage (as appropriate for each organization) a law firm to file either a separate or class action law suits of injunction to stop the construction of this building.

    WE must not be silent about the potential construction of this design atrocity. At the very minimum, the design and Historic Preservation Communities must stand up and make a public statement for the general public & the world to be aware of; if not us, who else will 
    & can speak on this issue?

    I have said my peace, what are you prepared to do?


    Terry H.  Brooks
    Terry H. Brooks, AIA, MLAI
    President / CEO
    Development Services, LLC
    202-510-2740



    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-02-2025 06:32 PM

    Terry – I am 100% in agreement with what you propose. We need to raise our voices to be heard over this travesty.



    ------------------------------
    Albert Zgolinski AIA
    HNTB Corporation
    New York NY
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-02-2025 08:36 PM
    Agree totally 100%. Thank you for forwarding the comments and ideas for action.  Let us know if you receive any responses and if there is more for us to do in a proactive fashion.
    Thanks,
    Inda Sechzer

    Kander Sechzer Architectural Partnership
    Deborah C. Kander, AIA
    Inda M. Sechzer, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP

    Maplewood, NJ  Tel: 973-704-6896
    Morristown, NJ   Tel: 973-214-9195
    Fax: 973-763-0745
    Business hours: Monday - Friday 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM
    KSAParch@gmail.com

    WBE/SBE  NJ Certified Women Owned Small Business Enterprise





    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-03-2025 04:18 PM

    I hesitate to call this construction anything other than an audience hall or throne room, since it will serve infrequently as a dance venue--note that the White House survived the whole of the actual Gilded Age without a ballroom being added--and more often as one for the adulation of the strongman.

    And every grand project under an authoritarian is a vehicle for bribery and graft.

    Our formal objection will, likely, only formally record our considered and ethical rejection of the project. That's sufficient, though, for posterity.. 



    ------------------------------
    Brian Broadus AIA
    Perspectus Architecture
    Cleveland OH
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-04-2025 07:42 AM

    Hi All,

    There is always hope in the potential to move the ballroom addition as an historic element to become an addition to a future Presidential library where it will likely be very appropriate to whatever that building may become. 

    Tris



    ------------------------------
    Tristram W. Metcalfe 3 AIA
    Metcalfe Associates Architecture
    Northampton MA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-04-2025 09:18 AM
    Hi Trus!
    The current White House ballroom addition is NOT the correct design solution!





    Original Message


  • 13.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-04-2025 12:48 PM

    Agreed Terry

    Thats why its needs to be relocated to its place in history as an addition to a MUCH lesser important building where it would belong as lesson to good design.

    Tris



    ------------------------------
    Tristram Metcalfe AIA
    Metcalfe Associates Architecture
    Northampton MA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 14.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-04-2025 09:29 PM
    Not gonna happen...not easy to relocate 90,000 SF of gold leaf...

    Kander Sechzer Architectural Partnership
    Deborah C. Kander, AIA
    Inda M. Sechzer, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP

    Maplewood, NJ  Tel: 973-704-6896
    Morristown, NJ   Tel: 973-214-9195
    Fax: 973-763-0745
    Business hours: Monday - Friday 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM
    KSAParch@gmail.com

    WBE/SBE  NJ Certified Women Owned Small Business Enterprise





    Original Message


  • 15.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-05-2025 07:01 AM
    Where there is a will, there is a way!
    Right is right & wrong is wrong!
    That's why they made erasers for pencils in the old days & why we have the digital delete button today!

    Ugly is ugly anytime & always !




    Original Message


  • 16.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-05-2025 08:08 AM
    I am not so pessimistic, America was supposed to remain a colony of England. The colonists, now Americans, said "NO". The Capitol & White House buildings were supposed to be too expensive to be built,  Americans said it will be funded and built, they were! All of Washington, D.C.'s Monumental core buildings had their individual design, construction and funding challenges, they were all funded, constructed & built with the same core design mission, to create a well-balanced and complementarily scaled Capital City that supports, sustains and respects a design hierarchy like no other in the world; one that , from the air or at grade, highlights: the Washington Monument, The White House, The Lincoln Memorial, The Jefferson Memorial, the Tidal Basin and the Mall, including the grand  avenues, parks and circles that define Washington, D.C. As The Nation/s Capital.

    -Adding a gold gilded barn to the White House that is twice the bulk and volume of the white House Building is Neither good design, nor historically or aesthetically correct; as a matter of fact, in my humble opinion, it's garish and totally out of scale or balance with The Nation's Capital's design image.
    I, and I think, from what I have heard from my colleagues on this committee chat all seem to agree that this is a design travesty. This project can be halted of enough of the public voices their opposition to this project. To use an analogy, that's why they made erasers for old lead pencils and the delete button on digital computers. 

    Terry H.  Brooks
    Terry H. Brooks, AIA, MLAI
    President / CEO
    Development Services, LLC
    202-510-2740



    Original Message


  • 17.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 09-30-2025 08:05 PM
    CEDB+Tag.png

    I cannot agree more to the groups response. It must stop.

    Cheers,

    Simone du Boise, aia, cgc, csi, icc, leed ap bd+c, ncarb
    Architect
    CEDBLLC@gmail.com

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    Original Message


  • 18.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 09-29-2025 05:57 PM
    It's all "a little too little, a little too late". 
    It seems the design and CDs must have been in the planning since the last Trump term. The recent announcement and groundbreaking could not be happening without long time work on design and CDs. 
    I would suppose this was done under the radar for a long time. 
    While the White House is under NPS, it seems that NPS and DC have had no say in the permits. Section 107 exempts White House and other DC structures. 
    Whose idea was that. 

    AIA's comments now are unfortunately useless.  Did AIA have no clue that this was in the works?

    And I agree it is atrocious, out of scale, and out of context. It is an Inappropriate intervention. 

    Inda Sechzer

    Kander Sechzer Architectural Partnership
    Deborah C. Kander, AIA
    Inda M. Sechzer, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP

    Maplewood, NJ  Tel: 973-704-6896
    Morristown, NJ   Tel: 973-214-9195
    Fax: 973-763-0745
    Email: KSAParch@gmail.com
    Business hours: Monday - Friday 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM

    WBE/SBE  NJ Certified Women Owned Small Business Enterprise

     




    Original Message


  • 19.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 09-29-2025 08:38 PM
    Given your comments, I wonder if this project was reviewed by:
    1. The Historic Preservation Office in the DC Office of Building Permits?
    • a core building review & approval requirement before a permit can be issued; and
          2. The Federal Commission of Fine Arts!

    This project is a historic design abomination!
    The historic design excellence of our Nation's Capitol  is NOT a " cheap& gaudy, gold clad hotel or casino or golf club !

    It!s never too late to state the truth!
    The AIA needs to make a statement!
    "WE" have been entrusted by the public to be the professional arbiters of good design!
    Otherwise;  we might as well allow the Washington Monument to be painted pink and place a gold ball on top !




    Original Message


  • 20.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 09-29-2025 08:57 PM
    Naw, let's gold leaf the entire Washington monument. I mean why not go whole-hog?
    Ugh. 

    I wish there was a way for a stop work order. But even if so T listens to no one. 

    AIA should know the answers to your question.  Basically-
    What entities have jurisdiction for oversight and approval?
    Who approves the building permits?


    Kander Sechzer Architectural Partnership
    Deborah C. Kander, AIA
    Inda M. Sechzer, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP

    Maplewood, NJ  Tel: 973-704-6896
    Morristown, NJ   Tel: 973-214-9195
    Fax: 973-763-0745
    Email: KSAParch@gmail.com
    Business hours: Monday - Friday 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM

    WBE/SBE  NJ Certified Women Owned Small Business Enterprise

     




    Original Message


  • 21.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 09-30-2025 06:45 AM
    To this Committee!

    Please pass our conversation on to the President & Executive Board Members of the AIA and request a statement on this matter from the AIA.

    This matter is very urgent and requires a formal, National AIA Organizational Response!

    No matter what stage this project has moved to, we, as design professionals, cannot remain silent on this issue! 

    If the American Association of Doctors can make formal statements about the ill-conceived medical policies of HHS we can certainly stand up for America's Internationally renowned Architectural History and not accept the erection of a grossly out of scale, gold gilded barn addition to the people's house!

     

    Terry H.  Brooks
    Terry H. Brooks, AIA, MLAI
    President / CEO
    Development Services, LLC
    202-510-2740



    Original Message


  • 22.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 09-30-2025 06:25 PM

    While Terry Brooks is correct that "the horse has left the barn" on this issue, the AIA should not remain silent when this kind of travesty is occurring. The Secretary's Standards exist for a reason, and should be respected even if the White House is an exempt structure with respect to the technicalities of process. Protest has worked with respect to other actions of this Administration, so there is no harm in attempting to use it here.

     

    Nora R. Klebow, AIA

    Medina, Ohio




    Original Message


  • 23.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 09-30-2025 06:34 PM

    All of the comments on this thread wreak of helplessness and frustration with respect to any hope of this corrupt administration abiding by historic norms, permitting processes, or any historic agency approvals. They do not care and will not give any deference to the Architect of the Capitol, the Department of the Interior, or any other regulatory body. I only hope that the next administration has the chutzpah to tear it all down, throw out the trashy gold adornments, and restore the historic and tasteful character of the People's House - at any cost.

    No apology for the political commentary.



    ------------------------------
    Mark I. Baum, AIA
    Mark I. Baum Architect LLC
    New Orleans, LA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 24.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 09-30-2025 11:21 PM
    I agree 200%

    Terry H.  Brooks
    Terry H. Brooks, AIA, MLAI
    President / CEO
    Development Services, LLC
    202-510-2740



    Original Message


  • 25.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-02-2025 10:37 AM

    FYI, I have forwarded these posts to Corey Clayborne AIA EVP (our point of contact with the Board) and Brittany Meyer (AIA Senior Director for Public Policy and Government Relations) and asked them for an update on current AIA activities on this important issue. I will post a new thread when I hear something back from them.

    Thanks for your input.



    ------------------------------
    Robert Burns, AIA
    2025 Chair
    Historic Resources Committee Advisory Group
    Richmond, VA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 26.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-02-2025 11:33 AM

    Hi Robert and Everyone else:

    Thanks to everyone for bringing this up- this will be a non-answer, but I will forward this thread to a few folks for discussion. We might be limited in what we can do (standing is mentioned above and I agree that could be an issue), but please know that we understand the frustration. We are having some high-level discussions with other groups as well.

    I'll follow up with you when I know more.  Thanks!



    ------------------------------
    Brittany Meyer
    The American Institute of Architects
    Washington DC
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 27.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-05-2025 11:31 AM

    I concur with all of the above members remarks. In addition the AIA must comment more firmly on the setting of precedent of Louis IV  ignoring all previously respected review and approval protocols. 



    ------------------------------
    Edward R. Acker, Emeritus AIA
    Broomfield CO
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 28.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-05-2025 11:35 AM
    Is this just our bubble in which we are echoing?
    Or do our comments have any traction anywhere?


    Kander Sechzer Architectural Partnership
    Deborah C. Kander, AIA
    Inda M. Sechzer, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP

    Maplewood, NJ  Tel: 973-704-6896
    Morristown, NJ   Tel: 973-214-9195
    Fax: 973-763-0745
    Email: KSAParch@gmail.com
    Business hours: Monday - Friday 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM

    WBE/SBE  NJ Certified Women Owned Small Business Enterprise

     




    Original Message


  • 29.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-05-2025 12:46 PM

    Hi Deborah and everyone:
    Just chiming in again to say that AIA national staff is reading the comments/concerns. I've reached out to a few other groups, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation. They discussed this issue with their board of directors and our current CEO and theirs are planning to talk sometime soon. Sadly, many of the other groups are preferring to stay out of this issue. As stated above, this building is exempt from some of the main regulations.
    I'm not sure we'll have a satisfactory answer for you, but I'm still running down a few things. 
    Thanks! 



    ------------------------------
    Brittany Meyer
    The American Institute of Architects
    Washington DC
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 30.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-05-2025 01:36 PM
    Thank you Brittany,
    Are you aware of any action by state chapters?
    Is there anything we can do as individuals?

    Inda

    Kander Sechzer Architectural Partnership
    Deborah C. Kander, AIA
    Inda M. Sechzer, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP

    Maplewood, NJ  Tel: 973-704-6896
    Morristown, NJ   Tel: 973-214-9195
    Fax: 973-763-0745
    Email: KSAParch@gmail.com
    Business hours: Monday - Friday 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM

    WBE/SBE  NJ Certified Women Owned Small Business Enterprise

     




    Original Message


  • 31.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-16-2025 08:16 PM

    Hi everyone.

    It is unfortunate that this conference post was hijacked by the WH ballroom discussion of its own post as many people probably haven't looked at it due to the title.

    While this ballroom is massively out of scale, I would like to point out that everything beyond the Executive Mansion was an addition added by the then-current President. From moving the President's Office from the Mansion to a new West Wing to Nixon removing the indoor pool (now the Press Room) and having an outdoor pool constructed. The  White House isn't bound by preservation laws, standards, and reviews, at least outside the Executive Mansion. This is because the alterations are needed by the current administration and if the standard 106 process was adhered to, the change would be moot by the time it was actually rendered. Maybe the next President will knock down the West Wing and build a matching office building so we can finally knock down New Exec. 

    Best, 

    Ronda Bernstein 



    ------------------------------
    Ronda Bernstein
    APT WASHINGTON CHAPTER INCORPORATED
    Richmond, VA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 32.  RE: A special symposium October 24

    Posted 10-05-2025 01:50 PM

    Please share which groups "prefer to stay out of this issue," which may be abrogating their responsibilities under the purposes of their organizations to advocate in the public interest, for the preservation of historic architectural, and/or protection of our public buildings and monuments. As interested parties, we may be able help them to reconsider their decisions.



    ------------------------------
    Mark I. Baum, AIA
    Mark I. Baum Architect LLC
    New Orleans, LA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


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