What a difference two months can make. In rapid time, the Trump administration, which has empowered Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) operation to hunt through the executive branch of the federal government supposedly in search of inefficiency, has taken a chainsaw to so much statecraft. This turbulence has major significance for those who work on the built environment: Tariffs increase the cost of building materials, mass deportations constrict the construction workforce, layoffs hinder HUDs abilities, and anti-trans policies impact architects, architecture professors, and students. Further, the exit from the Paris Agreement and the deprioritization of mass transit over road construction, among other issues, slow collective responses to climate crisis. With impressive speed, Trumps administration has sought to curtail even the most minor of energy-saving efforts. An executive order from January 20 took direct aim at building products: Unleashing American Energy claims that burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations have impeded the development of these resources, and so we must unleash Americas affordable and reliable energy and natural resources to restore American prosperity. The executive order encourages energy exploration and production on Federal lands and waters, eliminates the electric vehicle (EV) mandate (which is not a real thing), and safeguards the American peoples freedom to choose from a variety of goods and appliances, including but not limited to lightbulbs, dishwashers, washing machines, gas stoves, water heaters, toilets, and showerheads, and to promote market competition and innovation within the manufacturing and appliance industries.On February 11, Trump took to social media to discuss the topic: I am hereby instructing Secretary Lee Zeldin to immediately go back to my Environmental Orders, which were terminated by Crooked Joe Biden, on Water Standards and Flow pertaining to SINKS, SHOWERS, TOILETS, WASHING MACHINES, DISHWASHERS, etc., and to likewise go back to the common sense standards on LIGHTBULBS, that were put in place by the Trump Administration, but terminated by Crooked Joe. I look forward to signing these Orders. THANK YOU!!! (As noted by Politico, Zeldin is the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. The Energy Departmentnot EPAis responsible for establishing efficiency standards for consumer products and appliances.) Under President Biden, the Department of Energy tightened restrictions for washing machines and dishwashers and in 2023 began enforcing electricity usage regulations that incandescent bulbs cannot achieve, effectively prohibiting their retail sale, according to Politico. Apparently even LED light bulbs are woke? Ad Hoc Order by Ccile B. Evans (Rosemary Warren/Courtesy Ccile B. Evans and Chteau Shatto, Los Angeles)The upheaval reminds me of an artwork I stumbled across at Art Basel Miami last December: Ccile B. Evanss Ad Hoc Order is a six-part sculpture that photorealistically reproduces a scale model of the United Nations General Assembly Hall, according to their gallery, Chteau Shatto. Beneath, a darkened, subterranean mass is actually a kit-bashed trash heap imagined as a storage space for the plundered ruins of New York City. Within the rubble, there are detectable bits of the metropolis, like the torch from the Statue of Liberty, a corner of the Flatiron building, signage from Citi Field, highway signs, a subway tile mural from Times Square, and more. The model, which depicts an imagined institution titled the Global Archive of Memory, comes apart in pieces to be able to be used as a set for futuristic films made by the artist about Reception, one of the last human translators in this world, and her double, a memory that has abandoned Receptions body. The model and films are on view at the Sharjah Biennial.The worldbuilding (and model-making) speaks to the bifurcated reality of our moment: A new show of administrative strength, surfaced in gold leaf and official-looking seals, above, and a chaotic hot mess of wreckage below. Instead of giving in to the tumult, in this issue, we look to projects that offer a place of gathering and respite. Across three features, read about remarkable structures that support cultural activation, whether through performance (Michan Architecture), civic infrastructure (Colloqate and Bora), or a progressive shift in building culture through the reuse of existing materials (pihlmann architects). Plus, our Focus section delivers a range of hospitality products and projects.Before and after, we sequence stories for your consumption, including a survey of the voices of the L.A. design community in response to the devastation of the recent fires, a remembrance of Alain Peauroi, a review of Karamuk Kuos Cannady Hall at Rice University, and an interview with Elizabeth Diller on the occasion of Diller Scofidio + Renfros widescreen monograph, in addition to an obituary of Ricardo Scofidio. And: See exhibitions and events to watch on our Happenings lineup.Learn more about this years Pritzker Prize winner, Liu Jiakun, who has kept a relatively low profile in Western media so far. But his sensibility is spot on: Architecture should abstract, distill and make visible the inherent qualities of local people, he commented. It has the power to shape human behavior and create atmospheres, offering a sense of serenity and poetry, evoking compassion and mercy, and cultivating a sense of shared community. In architecture as in life, a little grace goes a long way.