Trump's Ballroom: A Question For Architects And Engineers

An honest question for anyone who does this work: civil engineers, planners, architects, designers, people in construction.

Hawk spent close to 25 years in San Francisco, where getting housing built takes about a decade. Some of that is California and some of it is San Francisco specifically, but ten years is ten years, and it shows up in what a one bedroom costs there now.

Then there is the ballroom. Heavy equipment arrived at the East Wing with no announcement, demolition happened, and construction followed almost immediately. The reported scope includes multiple secured levels below grade with classified communications infrastructure, and a structure above them larger than the White House itself.

The question is about lead time. Drawings at that level of detail, with that security profile, on a federal parkland site, do not come together in a few months. So when were they finished, and by whom? Was this designed during the four years out of office, and would an outside firm doing that work be under a nondisclosure agreement?

If you do this for a living, Hawk wants to hear from you in the comments.