Update: Under Threat – Kala Academy

Docomomo International became aware by the architect Nondita Correa Mehrotra, director, Charles Correa Foundation (CCF), that the renovation plans for Goa’s Kala Academy are underway, but there are questions related to its budged of Rs 50-crore. The Indian Express states “After Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant laid the foundation stone for the renovation of Kala Academy on April 5, there are questions being raised on the validity of the Rs 50-crore project. A prominent centre for promoting art and culture in Goa, Kala Academy that hosted numerous festivals and concerts since it opened in 1970, is in need of maintenance…

16th International Docomomo Conference Tokyo Japan 2020+1

On March 20, 2021, the official Japanese Olympic/Paralympic Committee made a decision to bar spectators from abroad. This means some kind of barring of overseas travelers will be expected to extend this Summer and Fall. Therefore, the 16th International Docomomo Conference 2020+1 Tokyo organizing committee decided to hold the conference completely virtually, instead of a hybrid of real and online announced earlier. So, Docomomo Japan together with Docomomo International are excited to invite you all to the 16th, but the very first, Docomomo International VIRTUAL Conference from August 29, to September 2, 2021. Now further details are available at the conference website…

Online Docomomo School Tokyo Japan 2020+1

In the context of the 16th International Docomomo Conference Tokyo Japan 2020+1, Docomomo International invites bachelor and master students to participate on the Online Docomomo School 2020+1 Tokyo, happening from 26th July to 4th August 2021.Summary In 2021, the DOCOMOMO Online School will be focusing on in-depth research on urban modern heritage and its relation to Japanese culture. People have lived and will continue to live in modern neighbourhoods and sites that represent 20th century urban heritage. Daikan-yama Hillside Terrace in Tokyo, is such an example of a modern architecture and urban masterpiece, designed between 1969 and 1992 by Pritzker…

LAST DAYS: Call for Papers – International Conference on Architectural Criticism: on the Duty and Power of Architectural Criticism

The Call for contributions for the International Conference on Architectural Criticism: on the Duty and Power of Architectural Criticism, by CICA is open until 30th April 2021. “Should architectural criticism be enlightening? Should it help in the creation of a better built environment? Is there a factual basis to it? Does it have a duty to present evidence in the evaluation of a building? Or should it take on what architects say about their designs? In the context of a flat internet, should architectural criticism be able to define best practices? Does it wield the power over who is in and…

Modern Houses
Devoted to the theme of single-family houses, given the key role they played in the ideal definition of the Modern Movement architecture, as a symbolic and functional affirmation of the utopian turning of dreams into reality, the aim of this issue is to consider the transformation of daily life, and to address the architectural challenges that arose from the joy contained in what we might call the “architecture of happiness.” As we continue to endure a pandemic that has now lasted for more than a year, docomomo wishes to declare that “till the moment, the best vaccine to prevent contagion was invented by architects: the house”. Thus, in response to the question “How should we live?”, it is intended to debate the house and the home agenda as an important topic at the core of Modern Movement architecture. Nowadays, the growing emphasis on wellbeing goes beyond the seminal ideas that modern houses were “machines à habiter” and is closer to an idealistic vision of a stimulating shell for humans, which is shaped by imagination, experimentation, efficiency, and knowledge.
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Leonardo Mosso: the poetry of structure

Abstract
Leonardo Mosso (1926-2020) was able to combine art and architecture. He was a collector and an interpreter of 20th century culture that he shared and passed on to succeeding generations of students and collaborators who attended the Alvar Aalto Institute. For many, he was an unsung Maestro, a generous polymath, who maintained an extraordinary curiosity and child-like enthusiasm throughout his long life.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Leonardo Mosso, Italian modern architecture.

Issue 64
Year 2021
Pages 89
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/64.A.3QDP8M1X

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Casa Klumb: an issue of preservation and education

Abstract
Early on the morning of November 11, 2020, we woke to news of the “fire that destroyed the Klumb House.” The somber story that detailed the complete erasure of the emblematic structure, under the custody of the administration of the University of Puerto Rico, at the express wish of the architect Henry Klumb, went viral and broke the Internet. The newspaper columns proliferated with a wide range of views on the issue. Leaving the essential question: Why did this happen?

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Modern single-family houses, Modern living space, Architecture of happiness, Henry Klumb, Casa Klumb, Puerto Rico modern architecture, Preservation of modern architecture .

Issue 64
Year 2021
Pages 88
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/64.A.W41GSZXG

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Past Readings, Present Findings: on Intervening Emilio Duhart’s PDVN House

Abstract
Between 1963 and 1966 Emilio Duhart (1917-2006) worked on the design of this single-family house in what used to be the outskirts of Santiago. During this period, a series of younger collaborators worked on the project, transforming it continuously. Now, confronted with the task of refurbishing the house, we trace back and try to understand the project development by researching archival material. However, it is the process of physically dismantling damaged fabric – almost everything, besides the concrete structure – that really reveals the main principles behind the whole design process. A silent dialogue with architects already gone, which provides the guidelines to write just another chapter in the life of this structure.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Modern single-family houses, Modern living space, Architecture of happiness, Emilio Duhart, PDVN 0458 house, Chilean modern architecture, Restoration of modern architecture .

Issue 64
Year 2021
Pages 84-87
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/64.A.O232XY07

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Modern Movement Houses in the Colonial Capital City of Nairobi

Abstract
Architecturally, Nairobi was never a backwater. Modern architecture in Nairobi developed in the context of the tropical climate design vocabulary of Otto Königsberger (1908-1999), Maxwel Fry (1899-1987) and Jane Drew (1911-1996), within a racially segregated plan. Ideas and ideals of Modernism came with refugees, migrants and magazines from many cultures and places including South Africa, Europe, the Indian sub-continent and the Americas. Projects by internationally renowned architects and planners such as Herbert Baker (1862-1946), Ernst May (1886-1970) and Amyas Connell (1901-1980) set high standards of design. The Garden City Movement, International Congresses of Modern Architecture (CIAM), the Modern Architectural Research Group (MARS), and the work of many others was influential.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Modern single-family houses, Modern living space, Architecture of happiness, Ernst May, Amyas Connell, Garden City Movement, Modern urban planning, Nairobi modern architecture, Tropical architecture.

Issue 64
Year 2021
Pages 80-83
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/64.A.L3ZCOKJZ

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Casa Albero: an architecture experiment

Abstract
Designed in 1968, the Casa Albero [Tree house], in Fregene near Rome, by Giuseppe Perugini (1914-1995), Uga de Plaisant (1917-2004) and their son Raynaldo Perugini (1950-), constitutes an exceptional case of architectural experimentation. With multiple references to the aesthetic avant-gardes of the 20th century. It is presented as an example of modular, systematic and prefabricated architecture, in which the architects are, simultaneously, authors and part of the experiment themselves. The project functions as an architectural model in 1:1 scale. The concept embodied in this work offers the possibility of studying different ways of interpreting the living space within the same architectural composition.

Keywords
Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Modern single-family houses, Modern living space, Architecture of happiness, Casa Albero, Giuseppe Perugini, Uga de Plaisant, Raynaldo Perugini, Italian modern architecture, Prefabrication in architecture, Modular architecture.

Issue 64
Year 2021
Pages 74-79
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.52200/64.A.5TWR82IJ

PDF (English)