One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind

The campaign to stop Thomas Gordon Smith's appointment to the position of Chief Architect of the General Services Administration, in charge of all Federal building, partially succeeded: Smith will not be Chief Architect, but he will be involved in the selection of architects for Federal buildings.

An interview in Architectural Record with the new Chief Architect, Thomas Shepherd, included these questions and answers:

There were rumors that Thomas Gordon Smith, who’s considered an advocate of classical architecture, was going to be appointed chief architect, which led to speculation that the GSA is moving away from Modernist architecture. Is there truth to that?

We’re looking for the program to include a full spectrum of designers, both Modernists and traditionalists. There are appropriate buildings for every place we build. Some of our newest peers are traditionalists, and we’ll use those peers to select the appropriate architect for the appropriate project.

Mr. Smith was awarded a fellowship. How will he work with the agency?

He and I and Tom Grooms, the director of Design Excellence, are just working that out, but we’re in the early stages of planning a symposium in the next few months to talk through those issues in a public forum. Thomas is going to be a great resource for us. It’ll be great to have Thomas look over the body of work and make sure that we are doing a full spectrum, and that we have a balanced approach in the way we deliver the program.

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