Trump can build in classic style: "Make buildings great again"

The foundation has been developed by the American National Civic Art Society, which believes that contemporary modern architecture has created an "environment that is degraded and dehumanizing". Instead, the nonprofit wants to change the guidelines for the design of all public buildings.

The organization's chairman, Marion Smith, has said the proposal gives a vote to 99 percent of ordinary Americans who don't like government buildings, according to The New York Times. The dossier is expected to be presented to the president sometime next month.

The proposal has been criticized by architects in the United States. The critics say it would be detrimental to design creativity and give Trump the power to make aesthetic judgments about which he has no knowledge.

Roger K. Lewis, architect and professor at the University of Maryland says that "it is a complete restriction on freedom of expression."

The White House has not wanted to comment on the proposal, writes Architectural record.

In history, monumental architecture has been cherished in totalitarian states. In Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Soviet and Mao's China. During Nazism, Hitler turned to the dominant modernist ideals and allowed his architect Albert Speer to create an architecture that would manifest the nation's strength.

At the same time, the use of classical architecture is not clear. The anthology Architecture as propaganda shows the complexity of how totalitarian societies have used architecture. Mussolini, for example, used both rational modernism and Roman tendencies.

Classicism is characterized by the pursuit of harmony and lasting values. The style direction is inspired by classical Greek and Roman architecture and has occurred on several occasions in history. Neoclassicism, when one again searches for the ancient sources, first appeared in the 18th century when, in the spirit of enlightenment, people became interested in simplification of forms and moral improvement.

Well-known classic buildings are, for example, Andrea Palladio's Villa Rotunda outside Vicenza in Italy with its geometric shapes and uniform proportions. The villa inspired the classicism of recent times.

Prince Charles is a modern advocate of classical architecture. He has built Poundbury in Dorset. A village mocked for being a "feudal Disneyland".