I would like to believe that, if I were working on one of the most important historic buildings in the US and my client chose to demolish a substantial portion of it without following the usual approval process, I would have the resolve to walk away. Personal convictions aside, the AIA code of ethics is clear: architects “shall not, in the conduct of their professional practice, knowingly violate the law”. Nor should they “assist a client in conduct that the architect knows, or reasonably should know, is fraudulent or illegal”.

That test is now playing out in Washington, DC. Late last year Donald Trump demolished the East Wing of the White House to make way for a proposed new ballroom seating roughly 950 people.

The East Wing, along with the more famous West Wing, was originally constructed in 1902 under Theodore Roosevelt and substantially modified in 1942 during Franklin D Roosevelt’s presidency. Though both wings have been altered many times over the past century, they form an integral part of the most symbolically important building in the United States.

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