The architect responsible for President Donald Trump’s contentious White House ballroom initiative unveiled new insights on Thursday, highlighting plans for an expansion of the West Wing. Shalom Baranes presented these preliminary designs to the National Capital Planning Commission, the entity that supervises federal construction projects in Washington. This presentation marked the public’s first glimpse at Trump’s ambitious renovation project, which has already seen the East Wing demolished to pave the way for the new ballroom. Current plans entail rebuilding the White House’s East Colonnade as a two-story structure, replacing the original single-level design. This transformation would enable guests to access the ballroom via the historic East Room within the Executive Mansion, the central structure of the White House.

However, the proposed two-story colonnade could create an imbalance in the White House’s appearance. To address this, Baranes revealed potential plans for a one-story extension to the West Wing, aimed at restoring balance following the East Wing’s reconstruction. The existing one-story West Colonnade, which Trump recently referred to when hinting at ‘something beautiful’ being developed, currently accommodates the White House briefing room and press offices. This outdoor segment also hosts Trump’s ‘Presidential Walk of Fame,’ where he has inscribed plaques critiquing some Democratic predecessors. Displaying large cardboard renderings, Baranes explained, ‘Here you see the upper level of the East Colonnade and the potential for a future addition, a one-story addition to the West Wing, and that would occur right here.’ He elaborated that this addition would reestablish the White House’s symmetry around its central pavilion.

When questioned later about the West Wing’s potential expansion, Baranes specified, ‘It would be just to the colonnade,’ thereby dismissing the notion of a two-story Oval Office. The project has faced scrutiny due to the initial lack of transparency regarding the East Wing’s demolition. Originally constructed in 1902 and then rebuilt in 1942 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the East Wing also concealed a White House bunker. Further controversy surrounds the ballroom, as it is entirely financed by donors, including businesses with interests before the U.S. government. Prior to Thursday’s meeting, about a dozen protesters, featuring members from the watchdog group Common Cause, gathered outside the NCPC headquarters, brandishing signs with slogans like ‘corruption never looked so tacky.’

Inside the meeting, NCPC Chairman Will Scharf – Trump’s handpicked leader who also serves as White House Staff Secretary – advised the handful of members of the public in attendance to keep the peace. Scharf acknowledged there was an agenda item, ‘the ballroom,’ that has attracted ‘passionate comments on both sides.’ ‘While there will be opportunities for public comment on the ballroom project in the future, we would ask that you not disrupt the commission meeting today and if you do make an out of order disruption of the commission, we will, unfortunately, have to ask you to leave the room,’ Scharf said. Scharf also apologized in advance if he got moody. ‘To those of you who have made New Year’s resolutions, I quit Nicotine eight days ago, so if I am irritable or less enthusiastic or energetic, that’s the reason,’ the chairman said to laughs.

He reiterated during the meeting that he believed NCPC didn’t oversee demolitions, which allowed the East Wing to be torn down in October without any government oversight. No disruptions interrupted the meeting, with the only pushback to the ballroom plans coming from members of the committee who represented the city. Baranes, who took over the project from architect James McCrery in November, said late that month a decision was made ‘not to continue exploring options for increasing the size of the project.’ There were rumblings that Trump wanted the ballroom to be even bigger – as the price tag of the project has now inflated to around $400 million. The current plans for the ballroom are based off of one of the plans McCrery originally designed, which would include a 22,000 square foot ballroom that would fit 1,000 seated guests for dinner. The overall new structure, which will include the East Wing offices that belonged to the first lady’s staff, would be part of the overall 89,000 square foot two-story building.

Phil Mendelson, a NCPC committee member and the chairman of the D.C. City Council, said he’d like to see the project shrink in size, for fear that the addition would overpower the main White House building. ‘I’m concerned about the significant overwhelming of the original historic building,’ he told the committee,’ Mendelson said. He also expressed concern that the board was only looking at one portion of the White House project at a time. ‘The other observation I have is that it is disturbing to me that we are looking at an addition to this historic structure, but we’re looking at what appears to be an overall plan in a very segmented approach,’ he said. ‘So there’s going to be some changes to the visitors’ center, there’s going to be some changes to Lafayette Park, there’s going to be some changes to the West Wing,’ he noted, expressing that he’s prefer to view the project as a whole.

Linda Argo, an NCPC commission members appointed by Washington, D.C.’s Democratic Mayor Muriel Bower, also said that she had ‘some concerns about the size and scale in a number of ways.’ The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued over the ballroom project, with a federal judge telling lawyers for the Department of Justice in December, who were defending the White House’s position, that plans for the ballroom needed to be submitted to the NCPC and the Commission of Fine Arts by the end of 2025. Scharf told the Daily Mail after the hearing that he thought today’s presentation would likely satisfy the judge’s request – despite more formalized plans coming from the White House at a later date.

The chairman didn’t hide the fact that he was for the project proceeding, pointing to a planned visit by King Charles later this year. ‘More likely than not, he will be hosted in a tent on the South Lawn with port-a-potties,’ Scharf said. ‘That, to me, is not a good look for the United States of America,’ he said. The White House is hoping to fast-track the project so it will be completed by 2028, Trump’s last full year in office.