Goodbye Donald! – Image by The Postillon – http://www.the-postillon.com/
Goodbye Donald! – Today, Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States. The inauguration will take place amid a deadly coronavirus pandemic and after an unprecedented storming of the US Capitol building by supporters of the outgoing President Donald Trump, who won’t attend the ceremony. Trump’s presidency has been very controversial on many levels, including human rights, climate change, economics, handling the pandemic, and even architecture and design.
Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas – Photo by AdamChandler86 Flickr CC.
From a Las Vegas golden skyscraper to the bombastic lush of the Trump Tower in New York City. Back in 2016, in the wake of the 2016 US elections results, we looked into Donald Trump’s architecture ideology. According to US architect Doug Staker these self-indulgent buildings “leave little as a treasure for posterity, a monument to its own era, or an icon for a city. Trumpitecture leaves a legacy for one thing: Trump.” Read more…
Back then, the architecture and design community responded with harsh comments and tongue-in-cheek designs. Ikea flat-packed Børder Wålls, Mexican Trumpiñatas and a Taj Mahal extension for the White House. Read more…
Trump Tower at Columbus Circle, NYC – Photo by Christian Jensen Flickr CC.
Back to the present. As a reaction to the storm on the Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters, Opposite Office designed a dystopian Capitol Castle architecture to convert the US presidential building to a fortress.
“Architecture can be a medium for political and social debate. Capitol Castle should make to think how we can protect our democracy.” Says Opposite Office founder Benedikt Hartl to Archipanic. “Why do we have to protect it? What is going wrong that people are fighting against democracy? How can we achieve a together than a social division?” Read more…
Capitol Castle by Opposite Office – Image by Opposite Office.
The American Institute of Architects vowed to undo Trump’s new architecture rules as soon as his successor takes office. In December, the outgoing US President signed an executive order insisting all new federal government buildings must be considered ‘beautiful’ and ideally be designed in the classical or traditional style.
“We look forward to working with president-elect Biden,” said AIA CEO Robert Ivy. “Communities should have the right and responsibility to decide for themselves what architectural design best fits their needs.”
Illustration by Gargalo.
Following Biden’s election, illustrators reacted with clever and sharp designs. On Instagram, @Gargalo depicted the Statue of Liberty getting rid of the former President by shooting him away using a face mask as a slingshot. Cuban-American artist Edel Rodriguez posted an illustration of Trump standing on a crumbling clifftop with a bold black text reading YOU’RE FIRED in reference to Trump’s catchphrase when he hosted the television reality show The Apprentice. Read more…
Trump US-Mexico border wall prototypes. Photo: courtesy of MAGA Art Group.
Building a US-Mexico was one of Trump’s most controversial promises. It didn’t come true. Should the built prototypes rising near San Diego be protected as architectural proof of the spirit of the times? According to Christof Büchel, they ought “to be preserved because they can signify and change meaning through time. They can remind people there was such idea to have this border wall once.” The Swiss-Icelandic artist is the lead organizer of the MAGA art group, a non-profit project whose name takes a play on Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan. Read more…
Aerial view of Teeter Trotter – Photo by © Rael San Fratello studio
California-based studio Rael San Fratello has re-imagined the US-Mexico border wall installing pink seesaws that allowed people of all ages from both sides to play together. The installation reimagined the wall as “a literal fulcrum for American-Mexican relations. Children and adults were connected in meaningful ways on both sides with the recognition that the actions that take place on one side have a direct consequence on the other side.” Says Ronald Rael to Archipanic. Read more…
Project TrumpNoMore – All images by TrumpNoMore / Melting Ice.
Climate Change denial was one of the major issues of Trump’s ideology. With the Project TrumpNoMore, environmental Finnish NGO Melting Ice aimed to raise half a million dollars to demonstrate that climate change exists in a monumental way: carving the US President’s face into an arctic iceberg. The project could also make Trump’s dream to be added on the iconic Mount Rushmore come true. Kinda. Read more…
Illustration by Edel Rodriguez.
