After being rocked by a scandal over extravagant spending, Tom Stoelker wonders whether the General Services Administration (GSA) and their hallmark initiatives, such as the Design Excellence Program, will suffer in the political fallout.
The GSA's lauded Design Excellence program, which was established by former chief architect Ed Feiner in 1996, established an important partnership with the architecture community by promoting and mandating high quality and innovative design in federal government building projects. Politically vulnerable from the start, architects now fear that the recent scandal could have a far reaching impact on the design of federal projects and on the Design Excellence program itself.
"Rob Rogers of Rogers Marvel Architects, who has worked on GSA projects both in New York and Washington, D.C., fears that now any design element could be interpreted as an extravagance and even high-profile projects will be forced to have heavy rounds of value engineering," notes Stoelker.
Although Feiner, who now runs the Design Leadership Forum at Perkins+Will, "is not too concerned about the program's staying power since it's codified in law," architects working with the GSA have already noticed significant changes in the agency's practices.
"There's definitely been a tightening of the belt," ZGF Architects principal Todd Stine said of his firm's work with the GSA. "Normal things like basic travel have been tough. It makes it a bit more challenging when the client can't come to the site."
FULL STORY: GSA Shock Absorbers
Oregon Passes Exemption to Urban Growth Boundary
Cities have a one-time chance to acquire new land for development in a bid to increase housing supply and affordability.
Where Urban Design Is Headed in 2024
A forecast of likely trends in urban design and architecture.
Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts
From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.
Orlando Pledges to Improve Walkability
A city report highlights successes and failures in building safer transportation infrastructure and reducing VMT in 2023.
New York Transit Agency Launches Performance Dashboard
The tool increases transparency about the agency’s performance on a variety of metrics.
Washington Tribes Receive Resilience Funding
The 28 grants support projects including relocation efforts as coastal communities face the growing impacts of climate change.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.