America's Words

 

DESTRUCTION OF OUR HERITAGE

The Guided Medallions stuck all over the Oval Office are images of a wishful person who thinks he is King. Gold is the best indicator of one's stature of the Nation's highest office, Right? Wrong, it makes a laughing stock of our White House office of the President. Plainly, it is just stuff just stuck on the walls to give the impression of wealth, and power. Obviously, it was not designed to be that way originally, one has the impression that a child who has a new toy, and just can't wait to use it in such a way, that it makes adults want to throw up.

Now the destruction is actually real. The East Wing of the White House is being demolished to build a Grand Gilded Ball Room. Good Architecture always has the mandate to honor the history of the surroundings.

AIA An architectural design that "should fit in with existing buildings' aesthetics"refers to the concept of contextual-ism, where a new structure is designed to harmonize with the physical and cultural characteristics of its surroundings. This approach goes beyond simply imitating existing buildings; it involves a thoughtful analysis of the environment to create a design that feels like a natural and integrated part of the community.

This huge structure dwarfs the main building of the White House. Plopping an out sized building connecting to one smaller would get an F on any Architectural design. This building could have been located on the oval green lawn in back of the main building, leaving the East Wing in Place and keeping the integrity of our history, and keeping the design pure for our White House.  

A Perfect example of adding a new structure to a historical building is the Louvre Museum in France. The Glass Pyramid in the court yard is a jewel of wonder, and it is not connected to any of the surrounding buildings. It is it's own wonderment. It shines like sparkling diamond and becomes a beacon of welcome to visitors.

The New Ballroom at the White House could have been a astonishment of excitement to visitors with a grand paved driveway leading to a place with it's own special placement of importance. Instead, it will be connected to the main building making the whole a statement of woeful folly

The Occupant of the Oval is not known to have the concept of good taste. His language, his symbolic red tie, his destruction of the Rose garden, tells the story of one who is childlike and acts on whims of fancy. I wonder if his Red Tie was made to be in the same over the top scale as the Grand Ball Room, would he be happy with the look of stupid?