Docomomo Journal
Not a member yet
547 research outputs found
Sort by
Otto Königsberger and Global Architectural Histories
Get PDFOtto Königsberger was a German émigré architect who worked as the state architect in princely Mysore in British India in the 1940s. Upon emigration to London in 1951, he subsequently became an educator of Tropical Architecture (1954-1971) at the AA School of Architecture. This paper examines how Otto Königsberger’s career can illuminate “global” as a paradigm in Modernist historiography
Preserving a modern housing model: the restoration of Pedregulho Housing Neighborhood
Get PDFThis paper examines the history of Pedregulho Housing Neighborhood, built between 1948 and 1960 by the Department of Popular Housing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from the first concepts to the restoration in 2015. Conceived by the urbanists Carmen Portinho and Affonso E. Reidy, it became one of the most emblematic works of modern Brazilian architecture. After years of neglect, in 2015 housing Block A of the neighborhood underwent restoration, one of the only such projects on social housing complexes in Latin America. The paper discusses the housing complex’s history, focusing on the intervention and restoration project, its criteria and challenges, and also the aims and demands by the residents during the works
Searching Paradise
Get PDFAccording to Alvar Aalto, raising the quality of life did not lie in technical and economic capabilities but in the creative work of architects, whose “houses are built where people can lead happy lives,” and only reachable “by concentrating on human happiness.” This search for paradise, magnificently expressed by the Finnish architect, has guided countless projects in modern architecture. The house, the place of home, the world and container of the everyday individual and family life has been the privileged set of this implicit exploration, where many paradises can be recognised. It is about achieving adequate protection and getting a space where satisfaction becomes a daily joy for those who live in it: happiness as an attainable goal
Casa Klumb: an issue of preservation and education
Get PDFEarly 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
Modern Heritage, organic space, material permanence: Torres Posse House in Tafí del Valle
Get PDFThe Torres Posse House (1957-1958) is a testimony to the particular forms that the modern house took in the context of northern Argentina, and at the same time shows how the conservation and sustainability of modern heritage come in large part from the quality of its original project. Built to enjoy the holidays, it was rationally organized, according to the demands of economy, topography of the site, climate, and orientation. The gallery, the most memorable space, is a typological approach that remains in good condition. The project established a stone box within which to arrange a demanding interior program with total freedom. The durability of the material proposed it as a modern architecture, capable of transcending the obsolescence of the modern image to resist the passage of time and aging without conflict
The right to comfort in the century of the self
Get PDFoai:docomomojournal.com:article/1After the war, the world was divided between two main powers, a Western capitalist bloc led by the USA, and an Eastern communist bloc, driven by the USSR. From Japan to Mexico, the post-war years were ones of prosperous economic growth and profound social transformation. It was the time of re-housing families split apart and of rebuilding destroyed cities, but it was also the time of democratic rebirth, the definition of individual and collective freedoms and rights, and of belief in the open society envisaged by Karl Popper. Simultaneously, it was the time of the biggest migrations from the countryside, revealing a large faith in the city, and of baby booms, revealing a new hope in humanity. (...) Whether through welfare state systems, as mainly evidenced in Western Europe, under the prospects launched by the Plan Marshall (1947), or through the establishment of local housing authorities funded or semi-funded by the government, or through the support of private companies, civil organizations or associations, the time had come for the large-scale application of the principles of modern architecture and engineering developed before the war. From the Spanish polígonos residenciales to the German großsiedlungen, ambitious housing programs were established in order to improve the citizens’ living conditions and health standards, as an answer to the housing shortage, and as a symbol of a new egalitarian society: comfort would no longer only be found in bourgeois houses
The real reason why Nakagin Capsule Tower was never metabolized
Get PDFThe first part of this two-part essay is about the Nakagin Capsule Tower restoration and preservation project and discusses the low awareness of the current situation of the building. In part two Showcase Tokyo Architecture tours share survey responses from enthusiastic capsule tower fans on the future of the building
A conference for the future: From Bauhaus to the New House – Post-Covid Landscapes
Get PDFWhen, on 15th October 2020, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in her State of the Union speech and an article published in several newspapers, launched the idea of a New European Bauhaus, it surprised politicians, cultural agents and citizens in general. After all, we are not used to having a leader at the highest level, putting forward a cultural, artistic, and architectural issue as a central policy motivation.
Moreover, it drew on a century-old institution, the Bauhaus, undoubtedly one of the pillars of modern culture, where artists, architects, and designers in Weimar, Dessau, and already in decline, in Berlin, created a fundamental experience that was formative for modernity in the 20th century. In its time, the Bauhaus was in a continuous state of permanent and heated controversy. Now, a century on, it is also subject to the scrutiny of what is known as “politically correctness,” and to petitions and calls for “cancellation.
The Japanese Embassy in Mexico: a Fortunate Association, a Threatened Heritage
Get PDFAn examination of the architectural value of the Japanese Embassy in Mexico, designed by Kenzo Tange, Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and Manuel Rosen Morrison, which is in danger of being demolished. The context of mid-century Mexican architecture is addressed in order to situate this work within its historic moment, thus confirming its importance. This building was the result of an intellectual encounter between one Japanese and two Mexican architects, who exchanged ideas, concepts and criteria, resulting in a building with an innovative formal design, due to the use of reinforced concrete, and the flexibility of its structural concept, which allows it to be adapted to different uses. This article is essentially based on the archive of the architect Manuel Rosen Morrison, held by the Archive of Mexican Architects at the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s Faculty of Architecture
Towns are made from houses – Jean-Pierre Watel (1933-2016)
Get PDFJean-Pierre Watel (1933-2016) has not been forgotten in the history of contemporary architecture. Gérard Monnier recounts the architect’s success in the 1960’s, his single-family houses and a domestic modernity largely linked to his design of North European-style houses: a central living room, an assumed horizontality and large sections of glass. His main constructions were mentioned or have featured in the professional magazines as well as in the more mainstream press - ensuring recognition from his peers and the aspirations of potential clients. The houses grouped together into new towns were also lavishly commented on for their stylistic affiliations