Threatened Archives - Docomomo Portugal

Sign the petition! Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium

Docomomo International became recently aware by the World Monument Fund that Kenzo Tange’s Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium in Takamatsu, Japan, at risk of demolition despite its significance as a masterpiece of modern architecture. “A beloved landmark, the Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium hosted local sports events for 50 years until a leak in the building’s roof led the facility to close in 2014. The gymnasium was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tange Kenzo (1913–2005), whose designs combining traditional Japanese and modernist forms had a profound influence on architecture in Japan and abroad. For the Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium, Tange used modern materials to evoke…

Save it! Wentworth Memorial Church

Docomomo International became aware by Docomomo Australia that the former Wentworth Memorial Church, designed by Donald Gazzard of Clarke Gazzard and Partners in 1965, and located in Vaucluse, NSW, Australia, is at risk due to recent plans that intend its conversion into a private luxury residence and hereby the lost of its State significance as one of the most significant ecclesiastical examples of the Sydney School style of architecture. As an opposition to these recent plans, the Friends of Wentworth Memorial Church have launched a public petition “Designed by the late Don Gazzard, the former Wentworth Memorial Church is an iconic, though…

Save it: La Cupola

Docomomo International wishes to raise attention on the risk that Michelangelo Antonioni’s dome La Cupola, designed by Dant Bini in the 1970s, in Costa Paradiso, Sardinia, Italy, is facing due to its abandonment and neglection and consequent advanced state of damage, which will lead in a near future to its irreversible loss if not restored. Designed by Dante Bini for director Michelangelo Antonioni and actress Monica Vitti, this futuristic residence was built in Costa Paradiso during the 1970s. The building represents a place of great artistic and architectural value, it is a structure defined by Rem Koolhaas, curator of the…

Frederick Bagley House threatened with demolition

Docomomo International became aware by the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy that the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Frederick Bagley House in Hinsdale, IL, is threatened with demolition. “A unique and irreplaceable early work by Frank Lloyd Wright is at risk in Hinsdale, Illinois. The Frederick Bagley House, designed in 1894, is being marketed by @properties to a limited audience, with promotional materials focusing solely on the qualities of Hinsdale and the house’s site, making no reference to Wright and little to the house itself. The house has no legal protection, and it would appear the audience for this sale is primarily…

Save Hospital Octávio Mangabeira!

Docomomo International became aware by Docomomo Brazil that Hospital Octávio Mangabeira (HEOM) is in high danger of being lost, due to the remodeling project proposed by the Secretaria de Saúde do Estado da Bahia [Bahia State Secretary of Health, SESAB]), that leads to irreversibly damage of cultural value elements of this health heritage site developed in Bahia at the beginning of the 1940s: the former Santa Terezinha Hospital Sanatorium, an icon of the Bahian antituberculosis architecture, and one of the major projects responsible for the consolidation of Modern Architecture in the State. “The former Santa Terezinha Hospital, now HEOM, began construction…

Sign the petition! – Wrocław Sports Park

Docomomo International would like to draw your attention to the alarming situation of the Wrocław Sports Park, designed by Richard Konwiarz in 1924 and built from 1926 to 1928, when the city of Wrocław (then Breslau) was still part of Germany. This Olympic Complex was later extended in 1936-1939, and is now facing risk of demolition. This Olympic Complex is a world-class heritage site which was awarded with a brown medal on Olympic Competition of Arts and Literature in Los Angeles in 1932. The whole settlement is registered by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as a historic monument….

Under threat – Casa Roja

Docomomo International became aware that the Casa Roja, in El Poblado, Medellín, Colombia, designed by Rogelio Salmona, in 1966, is at risk of being demolished according to La Dirección de Patrimonio y Memoria, which received an issuance of the Construction License C2 for the development of a real estate project. “In this regard, and given the apparent imminent demolition of the house, La Dirección de Patrimonio y Memoria makes a urgent call to the municipal administration, in order to protect this important legacy that the architect Salmona leaves to the city of Medellín – the only buildings designed by the…

Central Vista – Redevelopment Project

Docomomo International would like to draw your attention for the proposed Redevelopment of the Central Vista in New Delhi, India, shared by the coordinator of the NSC 20C, ICOMOS India. ICOMOS India prepared the document Central Vista Heritage Resource Concerns and Intervention Parameters, in order to provide heritage-specific guidance and directions with the hope to ensure that well established heritage conservation norms and guidelines are adhered to the core values and character of the historic site are not adversely compromised in any manner. “Central Vista, the most iconic part of India’s capital city, valued worldwide as an exceptional urban ensemble,…

List of 7 Most Endangered monuments and heritage sites in Europe for 2021

Europa Nostra – the European voice of civil society committed to cultural and natural heritage – together with its partner, the European Investment Bank Institute, announced on 8th April 2021 the List of 7 Most Endangered monuments and heritage sites in Europe for 2021: Achensee Steam Cog Railway, Tyrol, AUSTRIA Historic Cemetery Complex of Mirogoj, Zagreb, CROATIA Five Southern Aegean Islands, GREECE The Giusti Garden, Verona, ITALY Dečani Monastery, KOSOVO * Central Post Office in Skopje, NORTH MACEDONIA San Juan de Socueva Chapel and Hermitage, Cantabria, SPAIN “The announcement of the 7 Most Endangered sites 2021 was made at an online event co-hosted…

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…