Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️
@jgbollard.bsky.social
I am writing a book that explains why Washington DC is the way it is: leafy, monumental, and segregated. I am also a licensed architect.
Pinned
White House Architecture Was an Honor System. Trump Noticed.
For 125 years, informal norms constrained what a president could do to one of the nation’s most famous landmarks.
www.theatlantic.com
The only thing that has ever stood in the way of the president building a big gaudy ballroom, is an understanding that the powerful would defer to self-appointed experts.
And now we see what a bad system that was.
And now we see what a bad system that was.
Truly odd that the only architecture world person in the files is a charming ex-model, and not like any of our divers creeps.
Deleting a post to reword for accuracy: Bill Ackman's wife, former MIT prof. Neri Oxman, is in the latest batch of Epstein files, among other things asking for money
January 31, 2026 at 2:26 AM
Truly odd that the only architecture world person in the files is a charming ex-model, and not like any of our divers creeps.
Point access legislation hearing at the DC Council has begun. dc.granicus.com/MediaPlayer....
January 27, 2026 at 4:28 PM
Point access legislation hearing at the DC Council has begun. dc.granicus.com/MediaPlayer....
Reposted by Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️
Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project architects spent years making sure that drivers to Dulles would still get their "peekaboo" glimpses at the terminal.
January 23, 2026 at 7:55 PM
Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project architects spent years making sure that drivers to Dulles would still get their "peekaboo" glimpses at the terminal.
Man, there is nothing I love more than waiting on zoom for the DC Council to start.
January 27, 2026 at 3:38 PM
Man, there is nothing I love more than waiting on zoom for the DC Council to start.
Mina Wright doesn't joke around. I believe her.
These plans are coming to a head now thanks to Trump, who razed the East Wing when nobody asked him to. His ready-fire-aim approach is the X-factor that could make a big swing possible. One former fed says that the White House is preparing to knock down four historic federal buildings — all in SW.
January 23, 2026 at 5:43 PM
Mina Wright doesn't joke around. I believe her.
Reposted by Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️
Federal and local planners in Washington have long sought to raze a derelict federal office district in DC. The area is enormous: some 230 acres, or 42 city blocks' worth of distressed government buildings.
This is where Trump's wrecking ball could swing next: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
This is where Trump's wrecking ball could swing next: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
January 23, 2026 at 5:14 PM
Federal and local planners in Washington have long sought to raze a derelict federal office district in DC. The area is enormous: some 230 acres, or 42 city blocks' worth of distressed government buildings.
This is where Trump's wrecking ball could swing next: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
This is where Trump's wrecking ball could swing next: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
Can we all give a hearty congrats and good luck to my good friend @kimpbender.bsky.social, for her appointment as the new director of DC Chapter of the American Institute of Architects?
DAC has a new Executive Director
mailchi.mp
January 23, 2026 at 5:33 PM
Can we all give a hearty congrats and good luck to my good friend @kimpbender.bsky.social, for her appointment as the new director of DC Chapter of the American Institute of Architects?
Reposted by Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️
🏆 The 2026 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize goes to Architectus for its conservation of the UN’s Historic Africa Hall in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Completed in 1961 by A. Mezzedimi, the landmark is a key work of African modernism. 📸 Rory Gardiner
archinect.com/news/b...
archinect.com/news/b...
January 22, 2026 at 5:17 PM
🏆 The 2026 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize goes to Architectus for its conservation of the UN’s Historic Africa Hall in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Completed in 1961 by A. Mezzedimi, the landmark is a key work of African modernism. 📸 Rory Gardiner
archinect.com/news/b...
archinect.com/news/b...
tfw you log off and then Patrik Schumacher drops this.
January 22, 2026 at 5:23 PM
tfw you log off and then Patrik Schumacher drops this.
I am going to log off for a while to focus on my book. It’s been real.
January 19, 2026 at 2:13 AM
I am going to log off for a while to focus on my book. It’s been real.
Reposted by Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️
And the laws passed during Mack’s term reflected the temper of one who had cut stone, who knew how to proceed by steps, by chamfers and fillets; who understood how brittle the things of the world could be. How an arris, once carelessly blown, could never be restored.
January 18, 2026 at 2:34 PM
And the laws passed during Mack’s term reflected the temper of one who had cut stone, who knew how to proceed by steps, by chamfers and fillets; who understood how brittle the things of the world could be. How an arris, once carelessly blown, could never be restored.
Such as modular strawbale, the thing your point access apartment building is going to be built from in 10 years.
at some point i think the germ of the idea that Europe isn't doing anything unique or irreplaceable in the world economy took root in some quarters. it is completely and totally wrong
January 18, 2026 at 3:32 AM
Such as modular strawbale, the thing your point access apartment building is going to be built from in 10 years.
🚨 Good history book cover art alert 🚨
I am absolutely over the moon that my book “The Republican House Divided: Civil War Memory, Civil Rights, and the Transformation of the GOP” is officially published TODAY!
After years of hard work, I am incredibly proud. Thank you to everyone who has made this possible 📚🐘🗃️
@uscpress.bsky.social
After years of hard work, I am incredibly proud. Thank you to everyone who has made this possible 📚🐘🗃️
@uscpress.bsky.social
January 18, 2026 at 12:50 AM
🚨 Good history book cover art alert 🚨
Given how central security of land ownership has been to the functioning of capitalism and how consistently governments at all levels of the U.S. have intervened to protect property rights it is legitimately weird how privatized and frictional our title system is.
Had missed this Trump comment on acquiring Greenland: “You really need title, as they say in the real estate business.”
Trump to Impose Tariffs on Some European Nations Over Greenland
President Donald Trump announced a 10% tariff on goods from European countries rallying to Denmark’s side in his pursuit of Greenland, a dramatic escalation in the standoff that will further strain US...
www.bloomberg.com
January 17, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Given how central security of land ownership has been to the functioning of capitalism and how consistently governments at all levels of the U.S. have intervened to protect property rights it is legitimately weird how privatized and frictional our title system is.
Conservatives have gone all in on comparing the Obama Library to anything our pedophile President gets heat for because they expect liberals to defensively.
But show this to your aunt and see if she thinks this is anything but a self-important waste of money.
But show this to your aunt and see if she thinks this is anything but a self-important waste of money.
A look inside the OPC
With just six months until its anticipated June 2026 opening, the Obama Presidential Center is nearing completion, its 225-foot granite-clad tower already casting a long shadow over Jackson Park.
www.hpherald.com
January 17, 2026 at 4:47 PM
Conservatives have gone all in on comparing the Obama Library to anything our pedophile President gets heat for because they expect liberals to defensively.
But show this to your aunt and see if she thinks this is anything but a self-important waste of money.
But show this to your aunt and see if she thinks this is anything but a self-important waste of money.
Mid Atlantic Leather is such a ridiculous name for that event. Like what, are you going to do, reupholster a couch?
January 17, 2026 at 1:51 AM
Mid Atlantic Leather is such a ridiculous name for that event. Like what, are you going to do, reupholster a couch?
McCrery is the only design professional of the four appointed.
The others are
- Mary Anne Carter, politico
- Roger Kimball, editor
- Matthew Taylor, attorney
All Mar-A-Lago freaks and hacks
The others are
- Mary Anne Carter, politico
- Roger Kimball, editor
- Matthew Taylor, attorney
All Mar-A-Lago freaks and hacks
Trump installs loyalists on the Commission of Fine Arts, federal panel that’s set to review White House ballroom, triumphal arch and Garden of American Heroes www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Trump installs loyalists on panel set to review White House ballroom
The Commission of Fine Arts will discuss the controversial project at a meeting next week. White House officials hope to win approval in two months.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 16, 2026 at 9:54 PM
McCrery is the only design professional of the four appointed.
The others are
- Mary Anne Carter, politico
- Roger Kimball, editor
- Matthew Taylor, attorney
All Mar-A-Lago freaks and hacks
The others are
- Mary Anne Carter, politico
- Roger Kimball, editor
- Matthew Taylor, attorney
All Mar-A-Lago freaks and hacks
I think you could successfully block this stadium by arguing that a hyperbolic paraboloid is not a dome.
The DC DOB, NCPC, and the zoning commission have historically interpreted the definition of a dome in a very narrow way. See the case for the Convention Center Marriott for more.
The DC DOB, NCPC, and the zoning commission have historically interpreted the definition of a dome in a very narrow way. See the case for the Convention Center Marriott for more.
And for people who were wondering: Yes, the Commanders stadium has to comply with the D.C. Height Act, so it can't be more than 130 feet tall. The dome, though, doesn't. So with the dome structure included, the whole stadium will be 195 feet tall.
January 16, 2026 at 8:30 PM
I think you could successfully block this stadium by arguing that a hyperbolic paraboloid is not a dome.
The DC DOB, NCPC, and the zoning commission have historically interpreted the definition of a dome in a very narrow way. See the case for the Convention Center Marriott for more.
The DC DOB, NCPC, and the zoning commission have historically interpreted the definition of a dome in a very narrow way. See the case for the Convention Center Marriott for more.
NCPC package linked below provides a lot of detail about the commanders stadium, including—it wouldn’t be NCPC without it—some very tendentious diagrams.
More renderings of the new Commanders Stadium. Does this city REALLY need another colonnade?
www.ncpc.gov/files/projec...
#washingtondc cc @jgbollard.bsky.social
www.ncpc.gov/files/projec...
#washingtondc cc @jgbollard.bsky.social
January 16, 2026 at 8:13 PM
NCPC package linked below provides a lot of detail about the commanders stadium, including—it wouldn’t be NCPC without it—some very tendentious diagrams.
Please stop comparing the new Commanders Stadium to Nazi architecture or classicism (as if)—what we are looking at is the revival of the architecture of another exhausted, dying empire: the Soviet Union.
January 16, 2026 at 2:43 PM
Please stop comparing the new Commanders Stadium to Nazi architecture or classicism (as if)—what we are looking at is the revival of the architecture of another exhausted, dying empire: the Soviet Union.
Two legends from the genre of not exactly singing.
January 16, 2026 at 3:57 AM
Two legends from the genre of not exactly singing.
This is an amazing resource for precedents.
January 15, 2026 at 7:04 PM
This is an amazing resource for precedents.
Oh you can post "The fact that all of you walk around expecting ADA compliance at all times is pretty wild" for everyone to see, but say it to a building inspector and and suddenly every tread in your egress stair is insufficiently level and you're sanctioned by the state licensing board
funniest running bit on twitter is "gentle r kikuo johnson new yorker cover drives idw and tpot types insane trying to interpret it"
January 15, 2026 at 6:51 PM
Oh you can post "The fact that all of you walk around expecting ADA compliance at all times is pretty wild" for everyone to see, but say it to a building inspector and and suddenly every tread in your egress stair is insufficiently level and you're sanctioned by the state licensing board
Reposted by Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️
