At the BSA, we want to reaffirm the American Institute of Architects' (AIA) statement regarding the recent White House Memorandum on federal building design, and express our deep concern regarding any potential revisions to the Design Excellence Program at GSA that could reduce or undermine input from our local communities. We strongly believe that a building’s designs and character should reflect the diverse populations that make up our communities. The BSA supports a wide range of design styles and stands by the principle that architecture must honor local identity and culture, with design reflecting the unique values of the people of our Commonwealth.

Examples of federal buildings inside the Commonwealth that would not be permitted under the new guidelines include the John F Kennedy Federal Building, designed by one of Boston’s most famous architects, Walter Gropius, of The Architects Collaborative (TAC) as well as the recently completed John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, a LEED Platinum building designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), that won a design award from AIA Washington, D.C. and was praised by the Boston Globe in a January 10, 2024 review of the building.

In response to the January 20, 2025 White House Memo Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture, The American Institute of Architects (AIA) sent out a letter to membership as a preface to the statement linked at the beginning of this post, which you can read in full here.