Former Kindergarten in Visaginas under threat of demolition

Docomomo International is now appealing to your foremost interest and concern regarding the situation of the former first kindergarten in Visaginas, Lithuania, which is now under the threat of demolition. “Visaginas (formerly named Snechkus) is a relatively new town (44 years old). It was built as a satellite town of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (almost identical to Chernobyl NPP). The whole town is a monument of soviet modernist architecture. In the 1970s an original ensemble of two twin buildings was designed for Sniechkus settlement: Vilties str. 3 (former kindergarten nr. 1, put into operation in 1978) and Vilties str. 1…

ICONS AT RISK by Iconic Houses Network

Docomomo International would like to highlight the important and pertinent initiative launched by the Iconic Houses Network: ICONS AT RISK. This initiative aims to encourage to preserve the world’s most endangered architecturally significant modern houses, by doing a documented inventory attached with the history of the houses, visual material, videos, latest news and literature references. Also, if there is a campaign for the preservation of a house, it is linked to it so that a petition or crowdfunding action can be directly supported. In addition to identifying houses that are threatened by the wrecking ball or deteriorating rapidly due to…

Shushtar New Town registered on Iranian National Heritage List

Docomomo Iran shared with Docomomo International good news regarding the protection of a town that was started to be built in 46 years ago in Iran. The Shushtar New Town, a modern – but contextual – city in the southwest of Iran, in of Iran, which was under threat for some demolitions, now is registered on the Iranian National Heritage List. The Shushtar New Town was designed by the Iranian architect, Kamran Diba (1937-), and started to be built in 1974. It follows the traditional urban pattern of Iranian cities with an interwoven urban fabric and (mud)brick as construction material. This…

Xenia Hotel in Arta under threat

Docomomo International became aware by Docomomo Greece that the Xenia hotel in Arta, an important modern site, is under threat. Xenia Hotel in Arta (1958) was designed by architect Dionysis Zivas (1928-2018), a Professor at NTU Athens’s School of Architecture since the 1970s, Dean of the School for many years, and a renowned scholar in the field of architectural heritage (Europa Nostra medal, Gottfried von Herder Preis etc.). The hotel was built inside the Byzantine fortress of the city, which then functioned as a prison. In addition to the small and discreet 40-bed hotel, the design included a new small…

National Theatre of Albania demolished

Docomomo International regrets to inform that the National Theatre of Albania in Tirana has been demolished by the opportunistic politics of the government of Albania. The National Theatre of Albania was exposed as an Architecture in Danger where Docomomo International opened a worldwide alert regarding threatened Modern Movement heritage in Tirana, Albania. In the  Architectuul‘s Forgotten Masterpieces – FOMA number 35, Saimir Kristo discussed how the municipality of Tirana and socialist governments tried to demolish and replace the theatre with new high rise profitable developments: “This is not just the fall of a building designed by Giulio Berte in 1939, part of the architectural and…

In defense of the Brazilian National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN)

Docomomo Brazil shared with Docomomo International the letter concerning the future of the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN). “The FORUM OF ENTITIES IN DEFENSE OF THE BRAZILIAN CULTURAL HERITAGE, comprising several social entities that gather professionals and researchers from different areas engaged in preserving cultural heritage, together with IPHAN Council Members Representatives of the Civil Society, and IPHAN former Presidents, expresses its concern with the Brazilian Government’s actions on the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN). Since 2016 and, more critically, after the beginning of the current Brazilian government, in 2019, Brazil underwent a period of many…

Save the Foyer Maurice Ravel

Docomomo International would like to draw your attention to the alarming situation of the Foyer Maurice Ravel, Nanterre, France, and express its full support to all the initiatives conducted in order to preserve this building. A remarkable place, located between Nanterre and La Defense, which since 1979 has welcomed hundreds of student-musicians from around the world, enrolled in the most prestigious music schools and conservatories in Ile de France. Its Auditorium was not only a work and rehearsal space for residents, but it also hosted many music festivals between 1979 and 1990 where great musicians played. Design by Jacques Kalisz,…

Pavillon of Berta Rahm threatened

Docomomo France shared with Docomomo International the opened letter concerning the pavilion of Berta Rahm (1958). “Dear Sir or Madam, At the beginning of February this year, the research team of the new SNSF project (National Fund Switzerland) on the Saffa 1958 (Swiss Exhibition on Women’s Work) at the Haute École des Sciences Applées from Zurich (ZHAW) learned of the existence of a pavilion from the Saffa 1958. A sensational discovery for us and the scientific community. The pavilion of Berta Rahm, an unknown and unfortunately forgotten architect, is not only a jewel architecture of the 1950s. She is also…

Villa E-1027 by Eileen Gray saved from demolition

Docomomo International is glad to announce that the Villa E-1027 located in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, design by Eileen Gray (1929) is fully restored and saved from demolition. Often ill treated by its successive owners, one of whom was murdered on the spot, the villa, emptied of its furniture, was in a severely degraded condition when it was acquired in 1999 by the Conservatoire du Littoral, a coastline conservation body that is part of France’s Ministry of Ecological and Inclusive Transition, which already owned the Cabanon. A decade later, a decision was made to restore the villa, which had been modified by…

Oslo’s Y-block with Murals by Picasso demolished

The Norwegian Government has decided to demolish one of its most important modernist monuments. A monument by the architect Erling Viksjø, with contributions by Carl Nesjar and Pablo Picasso. A monument that survived a terrorist attack in 2011 and remained structurally sound. A monument of European importance that must be saved. We are talking about the Y-block from 1969 which forms together with the H-block from 1958 the modernist contribution to the government quarter of Oslo. Just before the attack in 2011, both buildings were about to be granted protection by the Directorate of Cultural Heritage. Experts, inside and outside…