The first crop of buildings stemming from the Trump administration’s “Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again” executive order (EO), issued in August 2025, are now starting to come online.
General Services Administration (GSA) shared renderings of a new federal courthouse designed by HOK in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Brasfield & Gorrie is serving as the building’s Construction Manager as Constructor and fs3|Hodges as the Construction Manager as Advisor.
The courthouse “will stand as the living proof that the EO represents wise and humane public policy,” National Civic Art Society (NCAS) president Justin Shubow said in a statement. (NCAS lobbied for the EO.)
The 191,000-square-foot building will the replace the Joel W. Solomon Federal Building.
Upon completion it will house the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, and the Circuit Library. It will have seven courtrooms, nine judges’ chambers, and dedicated space for the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Attorney’s Office, and other “essential federal partners.”
In plan the main facade is shaped like a crescent, not unlike the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) branch on Grand Army Plaza, designed by Alfred Morton Githens and Francis Keally. Except whereas the volumes that flank the BPL Grand Army Plaza branch are inset, the two bars sandwiching the courthouse’s main facade are outboard. The two main doors are placed in the protruding bars.
The crescent void frames a prominent intersection on Chattanooga’s Vine Street. Architecturally, the federal courthouse building has square, fluted columns with capitals inspired by iris flowers, the official state flower of Tennessee.
“Our vision for the Chattanooga courthouse is to create a civic landmark that embodies transparency, dignity, and resilience,” Paul Woolford, lead designer at HOK, said in a statement. “The design balances openness with the rigorous security needs of a federal courthouse, while also responding to the character of Chattanooga and creating a welcoming environment for all who enter.”
No renderings of the courthouse interiors were released. But the GSA said in a statement the building “pairs modern functionality with classical architecture,” and creates “a dignified landmark that will serve as the center of justice across the region.”
The GSA is now looking for a federal art commission to be realized in tandem with the new building.
Per the solicitation, the “art budget” for the project is estimated to be between $800,000 to $1,100,000. It said that one or more artists will be awarded a “fixed-price contract for a commission.” Application materials are due June 15.
As previously reported by AN, the GSA recently enacted deregulatory changes aligned with EOs from the White House relating to DEI initiatives; this included discontinuing an initiative that helps connect artists of color with federal commissions.
Responses to the Chattanooga courthouse have been both laudatory and critical.
Shubow said in a statement, “This is simply a beautiful building—one that will uplift the spirits of every citizen who approaches it.” He called it “at once monumental and welcoming, classical and original.”
Chief Judge Travis R. McDonough, appointed by President Barack Obama, praised the design. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee judge called it an “enduring symbol of our republic [that] will become Chattanooga’s premier civic space.”
Lee Bey, Chicago Sun-Times architecture critic, was less enthusiastic. He said on social media: “GSA calls the design ‘Greco Deco.’ Looks like ‘Greco Deco & Speer to me,” evoking the Third Reich’s architect Albert Speer.
Per NCAS, the courthouse “will be completed before the end of President Trump’s term, so that it may serve [as] the crowning showpiece of his EO.”
