The five most controversial stories of 2025

Rendering of the White House State Ballroom

Continuing our Review of 2025, we take a look this year's most controversial stories that stoked debate and received the most comments this year.

President Donald Trump to add "exquisite" ballroom to White House

Several of the year's biggest architecture and design stories, and indeed much of all global news, were driven by US president Donald Trump. Perhaps the most controversial was his plan to extend the White House by building a giant ballroom.

The initial news of Trump's gilded plans drew over 250 comments, as readers discussed the architectural merits and need for the ballroom.

Since the project was revealed back in July, Trump has set the plan in motion by controversially demolishing the East Wing of the White House.

Architecture being killed by "woke take-over" says Patrik Schumacher

Another story that drew controversy and over 250 comments was Zaha Hadid Architects principal Patrik Schumacher's claim that "woke virtue signalling" has destroyed the intellectual rigour of the profession.

Schumacher waded into architecture's culture wars with a paper titled The End of Architecture in the Khōrein journal, which is published by the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory at the University of Belgrade.

"Architecture, as an autonomous, theory-led discipline, has ceased to exist," he wrote. "The discipline has self-dissolved, eroding its intellectual and professional autonomy under the pressures of anti-capitalist politicisation and woke virtue signalling."

Do people really prefer traditional architecture?

With Trump championing classical architecture in the USA, the traditional-versus-modernist style debate resurfaced, and we asked: Do people really prefer traditional architecture?

The piece was highly discussed with over 100 comments joining in the debate.

"I'm teaching students not to follow Mies van der Rohe's example"

University of Kentucky assistant professor Leen Katrib sparked debate earlier this year when he stated that 20th-century heavyweight architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was not an example to follow.

In an opinion piece, Katrib encouraged people to reassess the master of modernism and learn about the problematic legacy of some of his most significant works.

Architecture no longer considered a "professional degree" in USA

The fate of loans for architecture students in the USA was also a controversial topic, as the terms of Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill mean that borrowing levels will be determined by whether a degree is considered professional or not.

Architecture, along with nursing and accounting, will not be considered "professional degrees". This decision was criticised by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and much discussed in the comments section.

"The American Institute of Architects strongly opposes any proposal or policy that fails to recognize architects as professionals, particularly when designating which degrees qualify for student loan caps," said the AIA in a statement.

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