Beautifying Federal Civic Architecture Act of 2025
The Beautifying Federal Civic Architecture Act of 2025 directs federal building design policy toward classical and traditional architectural styles, with an emphasis on beauty, dignity, and public identification as civic buildings. The bill requires substantial local input for building designs, prioritizes site choice and landscape integration, and promotes architectural excellence and regional design sensibilities. It creates specific roles and procedures within the General Services Administration (GSA) to ensure designers have training in classical or traditional architecture, supports design competitions, and mandates that design choices align with a preferred architectural framework unless exceptional factors justify otherwise. It also requires cost comparisons and a formal notification process if a project diverges from the preferred styles, and it establishes annual reporting to Congress on implementation and adherence. In short, the bill seeks to standardize and elevate federal architecture toward classical/traditional aesthetics, while embedding community input, design evaluation, and cost-conscious decisions into the process for large federal public buildings.
Key Points
- 1Preferred architecture and design principles: The bill elevates classical and traditional architecture as the preferred style for applicable federal public buildings, while allowing other appropriate styles in certain circumstances; it emphasizes beauty, dignity, and public identification as civic buildings.
- 2Local input, site-first design, and landscape: Design must flow from government needs and public preferences, involve local communities where feasible, and treat site selection and landscape development as integral first steps in the design process.
- 3GSA responsibilities and staffing: The Administrator must update policies to implement the guiding principles, ensure architects working on these projects have training/experience in classical or traditional architecture, and create a Senior Advisor for Architectural Design to guide standards and design evaluations.
- 4Design competitions and evaluation: The act promotes design competitions, active recruitment of firms and designers in classical/traditional styles, and giving weight to designers with relevant experience during evaluation.
- 5Divergence notification and cost analysis: If a project proposes a design that diverges from the preferred architecture (e.g., Brutalist or Deconstructivist styles), the Administrator must notify the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy at least 30 days before a major decision, including detailed cost analyses comparing the proposed design to preferred alternatives.