Colonel William A. Phillips

Docomomo International (sometimes written as DoCoMoMo or simply Docomomo) is a non-profit organization whose full title is: International Committee for Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and Neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement.

Mrinalini Rajagopalan, author of "Preservation and Modernity: Competing Perspectives, Contested Histories and the Question of Authenticity," described it as "the key body for the preservation of modernist architecture".[1]

History

Its foundation was inspired by the work of ICOMOS, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, established in 1965. The work of Icomos was concerned with the protection and conservation of historical buildings and sites, whereas Docomomo was founded to take up the challenge of the protection and conservation of Modern Architecture and Urbanism.

Docomomo International was founded in Eindhoven in 1988 by Dutch architects Hubert-Jan Henket and Wessel de Jonge. Henket chaired Docomomo International with de Jonge as secretary until September 2000 when the International Secretariat relocated to Paris, where it was hosted by the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, in the Palais de Chaillot. The chair was Maristella Casciato, architect and architectural historian; with Émilie d'Orgeix, architectural historian, as secretary and Anne-Laure Guillet as director.

In 2008 there were 2,000 individual members. That year, 49 countries had national chapters and working parties of Docomomo. In 2010, the International Secretariat was relocated to Barcelona, hosted by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe. Ana Tostoes, architect and architect historian, chaired Docomomo International with Ivan Blasi, architect, as secretary. In 2014 the secretariat was transferred to the Instituto Superior Técnico at Lisbon, Portugal. Professor Tostoes remained as chair, with Zara Ferreira as secretary.

Conferences and seminars

Docomomo holds biennial international conferences where the people related to conservation issues gather and exchange information and studies pertaining to their scholarly research. The list of conferences held until now is as follows:

Session Year Date Host city
1 1990 September 12–14 Netherlands Eindhoven
2 1992 September 16–19 Germany Bauhaus Dessau
3 1994 September 16–19 Spain Barcelona
4 1996 September 18–20 Slovakia Bratislava and Sliac
5 1998 September 16–18 Sweden Stockholm
6 2000 September 20–22 Brazil Brasília
7 2002 September 16–21 France Paris
8 2004 September 26–October 2 United States New York City
9 2006 September 26–29 Turkey Istanbul and Ankara
10 2008 September 13–20 Netherlands Rotterdam
11 2010 August 24–27 Mexico Mexico City
12 2012 August 7–10 Finland Espoo
13 2014 September 24–27 South Korea Seoul
14 2016 September 6–9 Portugal Lisbon
15 2018 August 28–31 Slovenia Ljubljana
16 2020 September 10–14 [2] Japan Tokyo

The International Scientific Committee on Technology (ISC/T) organizes seminars covering the following themes: restoration of reinforced concrete structures, curtain-wall facades, windows and glass, wood and the modern movement, colours in modern architecture and stone in modern buildings.

Seminars and conferences are often held in key modernist buildings, as for instance at Alvar Aalto’s Vyborg Library (2003 ISC/T seminar), Brinkman and Leendert van der Vlugt's Van Nelle factory in Rotterdam (2008 Conference), and Gordon Bunshaft's Lever House in New York (closing party at 2004 Conference).

Publications

The docomomo Journal is an international periodical that, since 1990, regularly summarizes recent research on the sites and buildings of Modern Movement. It is a bi-annual publication [3] featuring articles by noted architecture practitioners and scholars, addressing all facets of Modern Movement architecture, from history and design concepts to conservation, technology or education.

ISSUE TITLE YEAR
1 Newsletter 1 August 1989
2 Newsletter 2 January 1990
3 Newsletter 3 June 1990
4 Newsletter 4 March 1991
5 Newsletter 5 June 1991
6 Newsletter 6 November 1991
7 Newsletter 7 June 1992
8 Newsletter 8 January 1993
9 Technology July 1993
10 November 1993
11 North America June 1994
12 Metal November 1994
13 Latin America June 1995
14 The Image of Modernity November 1995
15 Curtain Wall Refurbishment July 1996
16 Urbanism, Gardens & Landscape March 1997
17 Exposed Concrete September 1997
18 February 1998
19 Nordic Countries July 1998
20 Windows to the Future

Anniversary Issue - 10 Years Docomomo

January 1999
21 June 1999
22 Modern Houses May 2000
23 The Modern City Facing the Future August 2000
24 February 2001
25 July 2001
26 Engineering the Future December 2001
27 The History of Docomomo June 2002
28 Modern Heritage in Africa March 2003
29 Modernism in Asia Pacific September 2003
30 2003 A Year of Docomomo Activities March 2004
31 Modernism in the US after World War II September 2004
32 New Frames March 2005
33 The Modern Movement in the Caribbean Islands September 2005
34 France-Brazil Round Trip March 2006
35 Modern Architecture in the Middle East September 2006
36 Other Modernisms: A Selection from the Docomomo Registers March 2007
37 Places of Modernism September 2007
38 Canada Modern March 2008
39 Postwar Mass Housing September 2008
40 Tel Aviv 100 Years March 2009
41 Nine Favorite Architects September 2009
42 Art and Architecture Summer 2010
43 Brasilia 1960-2010 2010/2
44 Modern and Sustainable 2011/1
45 Bridges and Infrastructure 2011/2
46 Designing Modern Life 2012/1
47 Global Design 2012/2
48 Modern Africa, Tropical Architecture 2013/1
49 For an Architect's Training 2013/2
50 High Density 2014/1
51 Modern Housing. Patrimonio Vivo 2014/2
52 Reuse, Renovation and Restoration 2015/1
53 LC 50 Years After 2015/2
54 Housing Reloaded 2016/1
55 Modern Lisbon 2016/2
56 The Heritage of Mies 2017/1
56 The Heritage of Mies - SECOND EDITION 2019/1
57 Modern Southeast Asia 2017/2
58 Louis I. Kahn. The Permanence 2018/1
59 An Eastern Europe Vision 2018/2
60 Architectures of the Sun 2019/1
61 Education and Reuse 2019/2
62 Cure and Care 2020/1
63 Tropical Architecture in the Modern Diaspora 2020/2
64 Modern Houses 2021/1
65 Housing for All 2021/2
66 Modern Plastic Heritage 2022/1
67 Multiple Modernities in Ukraine 2022/2

Work at national level

Many countries have national Docomomo working parties, as either part of academic establishments or architecture federations. They may define gazetteers of important structures to be protected, such as DoCoMoMo Key Scottish Monuments and DoCoMoMo Architectural Masterpieces of Finnish Modernism,[4] or support local campaigners.[5]

Preservation work by Docomomo together with others was recognised by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection after a 2009 charrette to protect the former Bell Labs Holmdel Complex.[6]

References

  1. ^ Rajagopalan, Mrinalini (2012). "Preservation and Modernity: Competing Perspectives, Contested Histories and the Question of Authenticity". In Crysler, C. Greig; Cairns, Stephen; Heynen, Hilde (eds.). The SAGE Handbook of Architectural Theory (paperback ed.). SAGE Publications. p. 324. ISBN 9781446282632. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  2. ^ "The 16th International Docomomo Conference Tokyo, Japan". docomomo.com.
  3. ^ Cramer, James P. and Evans Yankopolus, Jennifer, "Docomomo." Almanac of Architecture & Design 2006. Greenway Communications, November 1, 2005. ISBN 0975565427, 9780975565421. p. 426.
  4. ^ DoCoMoMo Architectural Masterpieces of Finnish Modernism, Maija Kairamo et al. (eds.), Helsinki: docomomo Suomi-Finland, 2002.
  5. ^ Why we have to protect our modern buildings, Western Mail, 18 July 2009
  6. ^ "Bell Labs charrette recognized by state", Greater Media Newspapers, June 25, 2009

Further reading

  • Guillet, Anne-Laure (projects manager, Docomomo International, Cité de l'architecture et du Patrimoine, Paris).Docomomo International. Modernity as Heritage." Journal of Architectural Conservation. Volume 13, Issue 2, 2007. p. 151-156. DOI: 10.1080/13556207.2007.10785002. Published online: 16 January 2014.

External links