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.
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.
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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 ArtsÂ