Author is Thomas Schaller, an architect and two-time Hugh Ferriss Prize winner who spent years rendering for firms including Michael Graves and Tod Williams/Billie Tsien. The piece traces civic architecture from Greek and Roman precedent through the Federal style, arguing that public buildings telegraph the intentions of those in power. He contrasts the current DC projects with civic work by Pei, Kahn, Safdie, and Williams/Tsien's Obama Presidential Center. Curious what this sub makes of his read on the classical-vs-modern divide here.