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White House Ballroom - National Capital Planning Commission is meeting again on April 2

  • 1.  White House Ballroom - National Capital Planning Commission is meeting again on April 2

    Posted 03-25-2026 05:46 PM
    Edited by Rebecca Pheasant, AIA 03-25-2026 06:11 PM

    I received a notice that the Ballroom was going to be on the agenda for April 2nd. Did anyone else receive a similar notice? I don't see the East Wing on the agenda.

    Thanks,

    Becca Pheasant

    Story Box Architecture PLLC



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    Rebecca Pheasant AIA
    Story Box Architecture PLLC
    Seattle WA
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  • 2.  RE: White House Ballroom - National Capital Planning Commission is meeting again on April 2

    Posted 03-26-2026 07:29 PM
    Edited by Samuel Combs, AIA 03-26-2026 07:30 PM

    Rebecca,

    The Ballroom doesn't show on the agenda which is here:  https://www.ncpc.gov/review/agenda/

    What I chose to do was to just put my comments on the Ballroom under the White House Screening Facility and then comment on the 33,000 sq.ft. underground screening facility.  There are no indications that show who the architect is on this other new facility but one would assume that it is Shalom Baranes.  Trump thinks the US are just his minions and that he can choose whomever he wants to design it (the law be damned!), chose whomever he wants to build it, and just saddle the country with its furnishing bill, utility bill and maintenance costs.



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    Samuel Duff Combs, AIA, NCARB
    Combs & Combs, AIA, Architecture, Interiors, Art
    Architect/Owner
    Anchorage, AK
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  • 3.  RE: White House Ballroom - National Capital Planning Commission is meeting again on April 2

    Posted 03-27-2026 09:41 PM

    I believe I saw a reference to AECOM as the designer of the White House Screening Facility, but I am not sure of the source. AECOM was previously listed as performing engineering work on the Ballroom project when McCrery was the architect.



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    D. Scott Cunningham, AIA Member Emeritus
    Ambler, Pennsylvania
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: White House Ballroom - National Capital Planning Commission is meeting again on April 2

    Posted 03-31-2026 04:48 PM

    Well I'll be a blue nosed gopher (to use an old phrase)...https://lnkd.in/e2jQ6-DD

    Judge orders Trump administration to halt White House ballroom construction
    MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and WILL WEISSERT

    Tue, March 31, 202



    Ken

    Kenneth J. Filarski FAIA, LEED FELLOW, LEED AP BD+C, SITES AP, AICP, CFM, SAP+AEER, NCARB
    FILARSKIARCHITECTURE+PLANNING+RESEARCH
    P.O. Box 3210, Providence, RI 02909
    401.331.8800

    LAURENTIA Bioregion


    Candidate for 2027 President-Elect / 2028 President of the American Institute of Architects


    innovation and excellence in design and planning
    creating a working landscape of
    ecology
    directed toward social responsibility and stewardship, lifelong learning,
    sustainable and renewable environments, appropriate technology and economics,
     in our urban, rural, coastal, and corporate communities
    •
    © 2026




    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: White House Ballroom - National Capital Planning Commission is meeting again on April 2

    Posted 03-31-2026 06:28 PM
    Hooray! Write your congresspersons and tell them not to authorize construction of the ballroom in anything close to the current plans.

    George B. Bryant


    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: White House Ballroom - National Capital Planning Commission is meeting again on April 2

    Posted 03-31-2026 06:57 PM
    Great news!




    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: White House Ballroom - National Capital Planning Commission is meeting again on April 2

    Posted 03-31-2026 07:53 PM

    I'd like to congratulate our Team of Historic Preservation Architects that have worked to stop this atrocity from further damaging our People's House.  We have spurred the AIA to step up and file a lawsuit against this administration for the planned demolition of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  We can be proud of our work to date.  We cannot rest on our laurels and must continue to fight for our built heritage!

    https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03/31/us/trump-news



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    Samuel Duff Combs, AIA, NCARB
    Combs & Combs, AIA, Architecture, Interiors, Art
    Architect/Owner
    Anchorage, AK
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: White House Ballroom - National Capital Planning Commission is meeting again on April 2

    Posted 04-01-2026 09:32 AM
    Agree 200%! 


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



    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: White House Ballroom - National Capital Planning Commission is meeting again on April 2

    Posted 04-01-2026 05:39 PM

    I am happy to be in such company but Trump today, at his desk, made noises that he's got the authority to continue work because it's national security, or something since there is a subterranean bunker. (He was reading from a script that he'd written himself apparently unaware that a Sharpie bleeds through and was visible to the press. A photographer shot it and reversed the image to display the written version of his rant.) Of course, there's no reason that whatever bombproof is underway has to be surmounted by a bloated Corinthian exercise that would cause an instructor to sit his first-year student down and have a serious talk with the latter about his or her future.

    Brian



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    Brian Broadus AIA
    Perspectus Architecture
    Cleveland OH
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    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: White House Ballroom - National Capital Planning Commission is meeting again on April 2

    Posted 04-01-2026 05:54 PM

    I guarantee they have a workaround for this setback.  There must be dozens of engineers, consultants, vendors, contractors all suddenly looking at stop work order.  Hope the judge has a plan to hold the line as it could get ugly



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    Thomas Gray AIA

    Pittsburgh PA
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    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: White House Ballroom - National Capital Planning Commission is meeting again on April 2

    Posted 04-01-2026 06:13 PM
    Too bad for everyone involved in the project. They never should have agreed to work on this illegal project. The police should arrest anyone trying to enter the now non-construction site. Trump can say that there is a security issue but it is one of his own creation. If there is a real security issue because of the demolition of the East Wing, then Trump should be impeached.

    George B. Bryant


    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: White House Ballroom - National Capital Planning Commission is meeting again on April 2

    Posted 03-26-2026 07:49 PM
    I received the same message. The Ballroom does not appear on the schedule but I left a comment anyway.
    George Bryant
    Sent from my iPhone




  • 13.  RE: White House Ballroom - National Capital Planning Commission is meeting again on April 2

    Posted 03-27-2026 09:24 AM

    Rebecca, the Ballroom is not contained in the online agenda, but it is included in the downloadable agenda pdf file as a "carryover" item from a previous meeting. There are to be no additional public comments or input being allowed. 



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    John Prokop Assoc. AIA
    Rowe Architects
    Tampa FL
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