President Donald Trump‘s White House Ballroom renovation project has been exposed to have significant design flaws, according to an architectural analysis of the blueprints.
The design proposals for the new ballroom wing of the White House, being constructed on the ground that formerly housed the East Wing, have been presented to the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) and the Commission of Fine Arts, and are up for a final vote this Thursday.
Construction cranes have already been swinging above the White House for weeks, laying the groundwork for the implementation of Trump’s plans.
Now, days before the final approval vote, an analysis by the New York Times has revealed some embarrassing problems.
The ballroom, being in the place of the old East Wing, will upset the visual balance of the whole White House complex, with the addition being bigger and bulkier than the West Wing.
It will also cut across a visual line from the US Capitol, which is meant to signify the separation of the Executive and Legislative branches – a key part of the original design of DC by architect Pierre L’Enfant. Further assaults on the symmetry of the building are the rerouting of a sidewalk and the addition of a portico.
Other issues identified by the Times include a grand staircase in front that does not lead into the ballroom itself, while the true entrance is at the side of the building. A flurry of columns will block the light inside the building.
Carol Quillen, the president and chief executive of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued the administration over the ballroom project, noted to the Times that ‘no project belonging to the public should be the vision of just one man.’
The above image illustrates the issues identified by the critics. 1. Columns block interior view. 2. Grand Staircase does not lead to ballroom. 3. Entrance is actually by the side. 4 Portico unnecessarily big. 6 Design requires relocation of existing path, ruining symmetry.
‘Even if we are slow and we make mistakes and we fight, that process has meaning to us,’ Quillen also noted.
Will Scharf, White House staff secretary, who also chairs the NCPC, told the Times that the speed of the project is just another example of the Administration’s efficiency.
‘If not for President Trump, his desire to move quickly, and his raising the money to fund this, a project like this could languish for years with no decision or action,’ Mr. Scharf noted. ‘[Without his drive to move forward] we could still be debating it at NCPC meetings 20 years from now.’
Trump himself has railed about the ‘Radical Left National (No!)Trust for Historic Preservation,’ full of ‘so-called ‘preservationists,’ who get their money from the most unusual of places’ and ‘couldn’t care less’ about America in his view.
He has also patted himself on the back for reportedly funding the construction project, which is planned to cost between $300 and $400 million without a single dollar of taxpayer funds, but with donations from America’s business leaders.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.
Join the debate
Should one president¿s vision reshape America¿s most iconic building, or should history matter more?
