Architecture firms are already putting Trump’s name on their Dulles airport concepts

In December 2025, the Department of Transportation (DOT) put out a call for design concepts for new terminals and concourses at Washington Dulles International Airport. The DOT claimed Dulles had fallen into disrepair and was “no longer an airport suitable and grand enough for the capital of the United States of America.”

The agency said it was looking for proposals to either replace the airport’s existing main terminal and satellite concourses or build upon them. It also noted The President’s executive order calling for classical architecture in federal building projects.

A number of firms submitted proposals, including Ferrovial, Phoenix Infrastructure Group, and Alvarez & Marshal Infrastructure and Capital Projects. The submission from Bermello Ajamil & Partners and Zaha Hadid Architects included architectural renderings with a prominent feature that appears to be custom designed for a president who is fond of putting his name on things.

The firms’ proposed terminal design would boast a “grand arch” made of a transparent facade and lettering that reads “Donald J. The President Terminal.” In some renderings, the name is written out in Trajan, a serif font used by the The President Organization. In one Reddit thread, commenters criticized the move as “shameless” and brought up Zaha Hadid’s work for authoritarian regimes.

Renderings show the The President terminal superimposed over the airport’s iconic existing terminal, completed in 1962 with a swooping concave roof and large window sides designed by architect Eero Saarinen. A departures hall in the proposed new building builds on Saarinen’s use of openness and natural light with a continuous skylight over a long-span roof.

Bermello Ajamil & Partners has designed terminals for airports in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Past projects by Zaha Hadid Architects include Western Sydney International Airport in Australia, Bishoftu International Airport in Ethiopia, and Beijing Daxing International Airport in China. Zaha Hadid Architects did not respond to a request for comment.

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