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Donald Trump proposes subterranean White House visitor screening centre

Architecture studio AECOM has unveiled designs for a subterranean visitor screening centre as part of US president Donald Trump‘s revamp of the White House in Washington DC.

Recently submitted by the White House to the National Capital Planning Commission, the proposed permanent security screening facility would be built under Sherman Park – a small park to the southwest of the White House.

Plan for Subterranean White House visitor screening centre — The proposed White House visitor screening centre would be built under Sherman Park

Designed by AECOM, the 33,000-square-foot (3,065-square-metre) facility would be almost entirely underground. It would be connected to a single-storey, above-ground structure built alongside East Executive Avenue.

Visitors to the White House would enter the facility via a ramp on the south of the park, before progressing through security checks underground.

Visitor centre at White House — The building would be almost entirely underground

A tunnel leading to escalators would connect the underground facility to the above-ground building, with visitors emerging within the White House’s security perimeter.

The above-ground building will be designed “based upon existing security booth vocabulary used throughout the campus”. It will be wrapped in columns, with limestone cladding and a sloped metal roof.

The two structures would replace temporary tents and trailers that have been used by the US Secret Service for visitor screening since 2005.

Subterranean White House visitor screening centre — Screening would take place underground, with escalators connecting to the above-ground building

According to the planning documents, the General William Tecumseh Sherman Monument, which dominates the park, will remain in place and any trees damaged will be replaced.

“Most of the proposed structure is intentionally positioned below grade within the park’s west quadrant to reduce visual impact and to avoid infrastructure conflicts in the southeast corner of the park,” said the project summary.

“Landscape restoration, including new tree plantings, will be provided within all impacted zones to reinstate and enhance the park’s character.”

The White House intends to have the proposed screening centre operational by July 2028, with construction planned to begin later this year.

The proposals are set to be discussed by the National Capital Planning Commission at a meeting on 2 April.

Visitor building on East Executive Avenue — The above-ground building will be wrapped in columns

Architecture studio AECOM is also part of the team designing the extension to the White House, which is set to replace the East Wing and is visible in the renders of the screening facility.

We recently took a look at all the changes taking place in Washington DC as Trump aims to redesign the city in his image.

The images are courtesy of National Capital Planning Commission / AECOM.

Washington Commanders share new stadium renderings by HKS

Daniel Jonas Roche |

The new renderings give a sense of what the fan experience will look like on the ground.

Visuals reveal the stadium’s perimeter shrouded in vegetation and a new spherocylindrical, capsule-shaped grass lawn for tailgating, concerts, etc. The lawn feeds into a plaza that fronts the main entry.

aerial view of Washington Commanders stadium — New renderings show the perimeter shrouded in vegetation. (Courtesy Washington Commanders)

Updated renderings also show how the stadium will appear from three major access points: East Capitol Street Northeast, the Whitney Young Memorial Bridge, and East Capitol Street Southeast.

The stadium’s concave profile will maintain sight lines from East Capitol Street Southeast of the Capital Building and Washington Monument, according to the renderings.

Architecturally speaking, the new renderings also show subtle changes in the columns.

lawn in front of washington commanders stadium — A large grass lawn will host tailgates and concerts. (Courtesy Washington Commanders)

road and view of stadium — View from East Capitol Street Southeast shows the roof of the U.S. Capitol Building and Washington Monument towering up over the roof of the stadium. (Courtesy Washington Commanders)

The last batch of renderings by HKS was issued in January; the tranche showed the stadium’s form and how it will axially respond to the U.S. Capitol Building and the Washington Monument, in alignment with the L’Enfant Plan.

Conceptual drawings by HKS were subsequently submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) for consideration on February 5. NCPC chairman Will Scharf called the design by HKS “a really incredible stadium,” while others said there was room for improvement.

Paul Ingrassia, General Services Administration acting general counsel, noted he appreciated “the references to classical architecture,” by HKS but said the columns could be redesigned to “convey a sense of heft and gravity for when people enter.”

As per Ingrassia’s direction, this latest cache shows the profile intact, albeit with perhaps more Greco-Roman influence in the columns, which seem to be different in plan.

A tall, vertical void is located at the outset of the columns, per the new renderings, creating a sense of depth and shadows.

road and view of washington commanders stadium — View from Whitney Young Memorial Bridge (Courtesy Washington Commanders)

The roofed stadium will ultimately be able to host 70,000 people and serve as an anchor of a mixed-use development. HKS noted 30 percent of the 180-acre site will be open space.

Vertical construction is anticipated to begin in spring 2027, and full completion is scheduled for 2030.

The Washington Commanders noted the design process is ongoing; the franchise is still seeking input from stakeholders, city officials, and community members.

The jury is still out on whether or not the stadium will be named after President Trump.

“The proposed White House ballroom is wholly incompatible with the site”

by Charles A Birnbaum

UPDATE: The National Capital Planning Commission has postponed its final vote on the White House East Wing Modernization Project to April 2, 2026, after receiving over 32,000 written comments and having more than 100 people registered to testify during the public hearing on March 5, 2026.

Opposition to Donald Trump’s White House expansion plans has focused on the building itself but the implications for the grounds are just as egregious, writes Charles A Birnbaum.

The debate about the proposed White House ballroom has prompted questions about stewardship of the nation’s most important cultural patrimony. But it also illustrates how landscape architecture has been ignored, and how principled regulatory processes have been twisted into a performative auto-da-fé.

On October 15, 2025, as reported in The New York Times, president Donald Trump told a group of supporters: “We started with a much smaller building, and then I realized, we have the land”.

Laws and guidelines regarding the grounds are being flouted and ignored

The “land” to which the president refers is the White House Grounds, a site that ranks among the nation’s most historically significant designed landscapes. It is also listed both in the National Register of Historic Places and as a National Historic Landmark (NHL).

However, laws and guidelines regarding the grounds are being flouted and ignored, and regulatory agencies are being stacked with loyalists who have demonstrated little interest, if any, in understanding the significance of the cherished and beloved landmark they’re affecting.

For more than a century, one of the greatest influences on the White House Grounds has been the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr (son of the designer of US Capitol Grounds and New York City’s Central Park). He was the key contributing author to the 1916 Organic Act, which created the National Park Service (NPS), the federal agency that oversees the grounds.

In the act, Olmsted wrote the so-called “non-impairment” standard, where the NPS must “conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein, and… leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” The Organic Act is the foundation upon which nearly all NPS management decisions are based.

In addition, since 1935, the stewardship and preservation of the iconic White House Grounds has been guided by the “Report to the President of the United States on the Improvements and Policy of Maintenance for the Executive Mansion Grounds”. This, too, was prepared by Olmsted Jr.

The report’s opening paragraph is both contextualizing and cautionary: “The White House Grounds… are characterized by many long-established landscape qualities of great dignity and appropriateness. It is of the utmost importance to perpetuate these qualities; and, in so far as they are affected by changes which are necessary or desirable for other reasons, to strengthen and perfect them instead of obscuring or weakening them.”

Landscape provides the essential overarching structure for the building

Olmsted noted that good management necessitates “a thorough study of the landscape history of the grounds,” and, as observed in the 2020 historical study The Olmsteds and The National Park Service, he specifically cited “the need for planning in advance of building expansion”.

Neither seems to be a priority at present.

There is one more important level of context. Since NPS is part of the Department of the Interior (DOI), the Secretary of the Interior is responsible for establishing professional standards and providing advice on the preservation of cultural resources listed in the National Register of Historic Places; that includes the White House Grounds.

Those standards can be found in the Secretary of the Interior’s “Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes”. They were created following an important policy shift at DOI from a “building” focus to one that was more holistic at a “property” scale. Yet, these guidelines have been largely ignored.

Importantly, the primary concern in addressing a historically significant cultural landscape is not solely its materiality, which is the focus when dealing with historic building architecture. It is first and foremost the property’s visual and spatial organization and relationships.

At the property scale, the landscape not only serves as the stage, but it also provides the essential overarching structure for the building contained therein, like the placement of walls or windows of a structure.

Current discussions about the ballroom project are almost exclusively architecture- and artifact-focused

As the author of the above-mentioned “guidelines” during my 15-year tenure as coordinator of the Historic Landscape Initiative at NPS from 1992 to 2007, it is my observation that the proposed ballroom, in its current iteration, is wholly incompatible with the site, and fundamentally violative of the Organic Act of 1916 and the Olmsted Plan of 1935, which have guided decision-making for decades.

Unfortunately, current discussions about the ballroom project are almost exclusively architecture- and artifact-focused.

Some members of Congress have raised policy and procedural concerns. In an October 24 2025 letter, representative Mike Turner, founder and co-chair of the Congressional Historic Preservation Caucus, asked “what efforts were undertaken by the… White House to identify, document and preserve historically significant artifacts, fixtures, or architectural components in the East Wing prior to demolition?”

And an October 30 2025 letter signed by 60 members cites the White House Preservation Act of 1961, which “requires the preservation of any ‘historic’ or ‘artistic’ property, including furniture, fixtures, and decorative objects, for the American public”.

Neither the letters nor the White House Preservation Act address the significant NHL-designated landscape, its historic visual and spatial attributes, “witness trees”, et cetera.

The two reviewing agencies, the US Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) and the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) are now stacked with loyalists. They are largely bereft of the knowledge, expertise, and leadership needed to make consequential and informed decisions about the White House Grounds.

This administration has shown that it will do as it pleases

The CFA unanimously approved the project on 19 February, despite receiving a record number of public comments (some 2,000), more than 99 per cent of which were opposed, and the NCPC is expected to follow suit on 5 March, despite polling that shows the public objects to the project by a margin of two to one and tens of thousands of comments.

Fortunately, the congressionally chartered National Trust for Historic Preservation, a private non-profit, filed suit on 12 December 2025 to halt construction. On 26 February, judge Richard Leon ruled against the trust on procedural grounds, but he noted that if the trust “is inclined to amend its complaint”, which the trust has announced plans to do, “the court will expeditiously consider it and, if viable, address the merits of the novel and weighty issues presented”.

Even if the court rules in the trust’s favor, further appeals are expected. What will happen in the interim? This administration has shown that it will do as it pleases – the law and public opinion be damned.

Charles A Birnbaum is the founding president and CEO of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, a Washington, DC-based education and advocacy non-profit which awards the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize.

The photo is courtesy of the US National Archives.

CFA Approves White House Ballroom Expansion Plans

Ellen Eberhardt

Members of the advisory council Commission of Fine Arts unanimously voted to approve designs for the White House ballroom expansion, releasing new renderings of the controversial project.

Digitised drawings and rendering by White House ballroom designer Shalom Baranes Architects were presented and approved in a Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) meeting on 19 February. The documents detail the 90,000-square-foot (8,360 square metre) project that is set to replace the now-demolished East Wing.

The Commission of Fine Arts has approved the White House ballroom plans

According to reporting by the Washington Post, the committee voted unanimously to approve the designs proposed by Shalom Baranes Architects.

With this unanimous vote, the project will move forward for further discussion on 5 March by the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), which “adopts, approves, or provides advice” on projects in the greater Washington DC area.

Trump White House plans — The CFA vote advances the project towards a 5 March meeting

The East Wing Modernization project includes replacing the former East Wing of the White House with a two-storey building and an expanded colonnade that would attach it to the Executive Residence, which sits at the centre of the White House complex.

The second storey will contain a 22,000 square foot ballroom (2,043 square metres), which was commissioned by President Trump as a space to host visiting dignitaries.

The CFA is made up of seven members appointed by the US president.

President Trump recently fired all of its previous members and has been reappointing new members, including former White House architect James McCrery, this year.

Renderings show the ballroom in relation to existing White House structures

McCrery did not vote on the motion, as the architect proposed the ballroom’s initial designs before being fired from the job and replaced by Shalom Baranes Architects in December.

Established in 1910, the CFA reviews “matters of design and aesthetics” within the Washington DC area, and acts as an advisory board, but does not have approval in terms of the actual realisation of the White House expansion.

If NCPC approval is granted, construction could begin as early as April, according to the Washington Post, although the project is currently being challenged in court by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is suing for lack of review.

A large colonnade lines one side of the ballroom design

As a whole, the White House is largely exempt from the National Historic Preservation Act, which mandates review for projects on federal buildings, allowing for Trump’s expedited approval process for the project.

Drawings of the East Wing were effectively leaked recently by the NCPC ahead of the 5 March meeting. Although roughly similar, the PDF presented today included more detailed sections and floor plans than seen before.

The images are via the Commission of Fine Arts

HKS releases first design of colonnaded Washington Commanders Stadium

Ben Dreith

Architecture studio HKS and NFL team the Washington Commanders have revealed images of a “monumental” stadium wrapped in a colonnade, set to be built in Washington, DC.

With a capacity of more than 70,000, the Washington Commanders Stadium at the RFK Campus was designed by HKS to be monumental, both in its sheer size and impact on the Washington DC skyline.

It will be wrapped in a white colonnade that recalls the city’s civic monuments including the Lincoln Memorial.

According to the team, it was designed with respect to the layout of Washington DC – known as the L’Enfant Plan – with deference to the Capitol Building and the RFK Stadium that is currently on the site.

“Every design decision is guided by the significance of place – shaped by its local, regional and national history and generations of memories rooted in RFK Stadium,” said HKS global venues director Mark A Williams.

“Monumental in presence, grounded in the L’Enfant Plan and scaled to the urban fabric of the district, the stadium design will be a bold civic landmark that carries the city’s architectural legacy forward in a way that is confident, dynamic and unmistakably Washington, DC.”

Positioned on a roundabout interchange adjacent to the Anacostia River and the parklands of the RFK Campus, the stadium will have a cable-net, anti-clastic glass roofing system.

The shape of the roof “establishes a dynamic yet respectful profile rising to welcome visitors from the north and south while maintaining a lower presence along the east–west axis in deference to the US Capitol and monuments,” according to HKS.

The sleek column system will stand in front of large expanses of glass. Around the roofline, the columns will intersect with a massive bezel-like form that lines the rim of the bowl. The columns will be most likely be made from coloured concrete.

Renderings show a potential lantern-like effect at night, given the large amounts of glass used for the facade treatment.

At the primary entry points on the east and west side, the bowl will dip down to compress a wide glass-fronted entryway. Within the stadium, the field will be sunk meaning visitors enter at a higher plane, similar to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

This entrance will sit on a plinth, reminiscent of other civic buildings in Washington DC.

Hardscape surrounding the stadium will allow for pre-game gatherings and other public events, and the renderings show millions of square feet of development, laid out to adhere to the Perkins Eastman masterplan of the RFK campus, which connects to the river.

The stadium design has been highly anticipated. Though the Washington Commanders stopped using RFK in the late 1990s, other sports such as football, baseball and collegiate American football were played there through the 2010s, with the George Dahl-designed stadium going out of commission in 2019.

It is currently being gradually disassembled.

RFK’s site has been contentious given the multiple jurisdictions in Washington DC. However, last year, the property moved from being administered by the National Parks Service to the local government, which leased out the land to the Commanders and approved the development plans late last year.

Due to its proximity to the capital, the design has also been the subject of national debate. The Donald Trump-appointed chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), the commission that oversees buildings in the Capital Region, suggested that the stadium should be “classical” at a meeting in December.

A source close to the project said that the decision to have the collonades on the stadium occurred well before these comments, and that the Washington Commanders’ management and architects will work with the NCPC, which has an advisory but not approbative say in the matter.

The renderings suggest an integration of both classical and contemporary elements in the design.

Washington Commanders president Mark Clouse emphasised the focus on football in his statement on the design release, as well as the importance of the structure to the wider community. Community engagement processes requesting feedback for the design are ongoing.

“We’re designing a stadium that amplifies the energy of football, supports year-round events and becomes a place the community can be proud of,” said Clouse. “We look forward to hearing feedback from our community as the design continues to evolve.”

Washington DC’s mayor Muriel Bowser emphasised the proximity to public transport, as well as the job creation attendant to the project.

“These renderings give DC a lot to look forward to – a beautiful and unique waterfront stadium and the return of our Commanders; year-round events that are steps away from an entertainment district and public transportation,” said Bowser.

The Washington Commanders will continue to play at their current stadium in the adjacent state of Maryland until the Washington Commanders Stadium at the RFK Campus opens around 2030.

HKS has designed other NFL stadiums, including SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and is also working with the Cleveland Browns team for its new stadium.

White House considering “one-storey addition to the West Wing” with updated ballroom plans

Ellen Eberhardt

Architect Shalom Baranes has presented an updated, “more-graceful” design of the proposed White House ballroom and suggested adding a storey to the West Wing for symmetry.

Baranes explained that, after taking over the project from original architect McCrery Architects, his studio will build upon the previous scheme. Baranes’ plans include placing a 22,000-square-foot (2,043-square-metre) ballroom on the second storey of the East Wing to match the exact height of the White House’s Executive Residence.

Baranes presented a site plan, interior plans, and elevations of the proposed design in a National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) meeting on Thursday, which was live-streamed to the public. (starts at 1:23 in the video below)

The East Wing proposal will reach approximately 51 feet high (15.54 metres), while the ballroom will feature 30 to 40-foot high ceilings (nine to 12 metres), according to Baranes.

“A modest one-story addition to the West Wing colonnade”

Barane’s said that in the interest of symmetry, a second storey may be added to the West Wing colonnade to match the increased height of a proposed East Wing colonnade.

“This scheme does require a two-story colonnade, connecting the East Room in the White House to the new ballroom,” said Baranes. “We believe it’s appropriate to evaluate this condition within the context of the broader White House campus.”

“The White House is therefore considering the idea of a modest one-storey addition to the West Wing colonnade, which would serve to restore a sense of symmetry around the original central pavilion.”

The drawings show the “two-storey” colonnade running into the East Wing building from the White House. The East Wing building itself is wrapped in a classical arcade on its second storey, which covers eight large, arched windows that look into the ballroom.

A facade of smaller, rectangular windows is pictured below along the building’s first level. This lower, 89,000 square-foot level will contain auxiliary spaces to serve the ballroom and a new office for the First Lady, who traditionally holds an office in the East Wing.

It will also reportedly hold a movie theatre.

Multiple grand stairs will lead to the building, while visitors will be able to enter the building directly under two porticos, one which extends far into the White House lawn.

“Rationalising” the White House

Foyers are located on either level at the end of the colonnade, while the remaining program spreads forward into the length of the building.

The architect also said that the previous layout of the East Wing was “labyrinthian in character” and that the new scheme will serve to “rationalise” the building.

“One could generously describe the current functioning of the White House support areas, such as loading, waste handling, general deliveries and food service as being quite labyrinthian in character,” said Baranes. “And I think that’s a kind description.”

“The proposed re-modernisation seeks to rationalise these functions in a manner that will relieve the stress by increasing connectivity, operational efficiency and by enhancing overall security. The changes will allow the White House to be experienced and to age, I think, in a much more graceful way over time.”

NCPC Commissioner William Scharf also stressed the importance of the East Wing ballroom as a new space to host visiting dignitaries, as the current White House puts forth “not a good look for the United States”.

“I think it’s notable that when the President of the United States of America flies to the United Kingdom, he’s hosted at Windsor Castle,” said Scharf.

“And when next year, the king of the United Kingdom, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, comes to the United States, more likely than not he will be hosted in a tent on the South Lawn with porta-potties. That, to me, is not a good look for the United States of America.”

“Disturbing”, said commissioner

“There is a real programmatic need for a building like this.”

The proposed East Wing building will sit in the same footprint as the McCrery Architects proposals, as the location and placement is ideal for access from the East Room, according to Baranes, who said he and McCrary Architects both studied the site “fairly extensively”.

He also said that while there’s “been excavation work” and “some foundation work”, the scheme “all depends on schedule and money” as it’s further refined.

DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson pushed back on the building’s proposed size, calling it “disturbing” and “overwhelming”. Others expressed concerns over safety, clearance design and ADA accessibility, while a delegate for the Department of the Interior said it supports the plan with “no reservations”.

A “more detailed and fully developed submission” is set to be proposed at a February NCPC meeting.

President Donald Trump released plans for the White House ballroom project in July 2025 led by McCrery Architects. In October 2025, the East Wing was demolished.

Since then, James McCrery was removed as the architect in favour of Shalom Baranes Associates, while the National Park Service conducted an environmental assessment that deemed the demolition acceptable. Dezeen recently rounded up everything to know about the project.