In 1962, while writing a report to President Kennedy on the subject of federal office space, a young Daniel Patrick Moynihan penned what has become known as the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture, a forward thinking pronouncement on how the government should further the interests and aspirations of the American people in its public buildings.

Fifty years later, these directives still shape and form our mission in the Public Buildings Service and they have become the cornerstone of GSA’s Design Excellence Program. Senator Moynihan's principles are both the standard to which we must elevate our efforts and the yardstick by which we must evaluate our work.

Report to the President by the Ad Hoc Committee on Federal Office Space, June 1, 1962.