The President’s 2025 executive order establishing classical architecture as the preferred and default style for federal public buildings raises a host of provocative questions. Should one style of architecture be the “official” style of the United States? If so, what national values should that style reflect? Is classicism inherently more democratic than modernism? Why is it often perceived so? How have the two styles influenced each other, and which architects have driven that influence? Join us for a high-level, thought-provoking conversation with some of the country’s leading architectural voices. We’ll leave the politics behind to explore fundamental concepts and principles.

Our panelists are:

• Belmont Freeman: is the founding principal of Belmont Freeman Architects in New York and a highly regarded architectural practitioner, writer and educator 
• Michael J. Lewis: teaches modern architecture at Williams College and is the architecture critic for the Wall Street Journal
• Nathaniel Robert Walker: is a professor of architectural history in the School of Architecture and Allied Arts at the Catholic University of America and specializes in public buildings and spaces

Moderating will be author, editor, and columnist Matt Shaw, whose work focuses on architecture as an instrument of political, social, and cultural shifts.