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Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, 1919-2013. Requiem for Pedro
Get PDFThe news of his death was instantly dispersed, displacing all other issues of national or international interest. When I read the message that Louise Noelle sent to all docomomo Mexico members, I accepted it as a plain and sad confirmation of what had happened: “Dear colleagues, this tragic note is to inform about the death of architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez today, April 16. He was one of the most prominent architects of the Modern Movement and his work has been part of our writings”
Ludwig Hilberseimer at the Illinois Institute of Technology: Architectural Education, Organic Democracy and Colonization
Get PDFLudwig Hilberseimer’s role at defining trends in architectural education in the United States is a relevant one, and deserves special attention due to its rigorous method. This article aims to cast light at his teaching experience at IIT, where he promoted an integration of urban theory and political ideals. Understood as an act of cultural colonization, architectural education appears as a powerful tool to reshape the territory in the United States and the world, as part of an ongoing process of Modern postwar globalization
The Restoration of Central City Alvar Aalto Library in Vyborg
Get PDFThe restoration of the Central City Alvar Aalto Library in Vyborg is completed and was officially inaugurated on 23rd November 2013. The restoration has been a long process which started in 1991. The work was carried out as a Russian–Finnish joint cross–border project within the context of two different socio–cultural societies, customs difficulties, economic fluctuations and currency rates, which could change the situation overnight. The project has been a learning process for all who have participated during the past years
Early Modern African Architecture. The House of Wonders Revisited
Get PDFThis essay explores the various strands of the advent of Modernity in African architecture. It starts from the assumption that the history of Modernity in African architecture is a complex and rich subject that merits increased scientific attention
Introducing Modern Gallery Housing in Maputo: Design Experimentations, 1950-1968
Get PDFModern architecture has recently been the subject of a more systematic analysis in the formerly Portuguese African territory. These studies aim at understanding the specific circumstances from which Modern Portuguese architecture first arose. Following the international debate on housing during the 20th century, Mozambique has been the arena of a new and experimental approach to collective housing in accordance with the guidelines set out by Le Corbusier. A singular social, economic and cultural territory, it adopted a tropical variant of the gallery typology, briefly introduced in this paper by means of select case studies built in Maputo between 1950 and 1968
Clorindo Testa, 1923-2013
Get PDFIt is with regret and sadness that docomomo Argentina informs the international docomomo community that architect Clorindo Testa passed away on April 11 2013. Testa was an architect and urban planner but also a painter whose artistic sensitivity has been always present in the way he conceived architecture
Transcontinental Modernism: How to Find the Shortcut
Get PDFMore than ever, it is urgent to expand the new emerging consciousness focused on the need to include other territories in our efforts to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the “Modern Diaspora.” Recently, the development of concepts such as ‘hybrid’ or the ‘otherness’ has been promoting a nuanced historical analysis on architecture and politics in the 20th century beyond a Eurocentric vision. The recognition that a widespread awareness of the Modern Movement architecture has always been serving colonization involves rethinking the basic principle of Modern welfare society and practiced architecture as a mission: how Modern principles have been exchanged, resulting from a Eurocentric culture with the cultures of East and Africa
Polana High School. A Modern Building Recovering Case Study in Mozambique
Get PDFThe Polana High School in Maputo, designed by José João Tinoco and José Forjaz around 1970, is a plain functional building both as regards to the spatial organization of its composing pavilions and as to its construction that is mostly made of exposed reinforced concrete structures and elements. After decades of heavy duty use and an almost absolute lack of maintenance, it recently went through some urgent repair operations. In this sense, it exemplifies what could be today effective conditions regarding economic possibilities and cultural problems to recover Modern heritage in Africa
The Helsinki Olympic Stadium in Transition
Get PDFMany 20th century sports facilities are in need of upgrading according to present standards and the 1938 (1952) Olympic Stadium of Helsinki is no exception to the rule. The international sports federations increase their requirements and security issues become more prominent by the year. Finland’s largest stadium is mainly used in summer for soccer matches, athletics, rock concerts and other events, and additional usage throughout the year would be welcome in order to strengthen the venue’s financial position and to pay for the extensive maintenance and renovations. At the same time the stadium is a popular historic site that plays an important role in the collective memory of the Finns and needs to retain its character as cultural heritage. Many delegates have visited this outstanding example of Modern Movement Heritage during the last docomomo International Conference that took place in Helsinki last August. Now, the building needs to be improved
Ernesto N. Rogers and the CIAM: Teaching for Democracy
Get PDF8 September 1943: The day the Italian army surrendered to the Allies is a - perhaps the most - decisive milestone in Ernesto N. Rogers’ life. From that transformative moment on, the young Italian architect built an extensive, in–depth international dialogue that led him to be recognized as a master in other, even quite distant, cultural contexts. It was in this concurrence of public and private life, which was practically a coincidence for him, that the career he had established as a partner in the BBPR and as a leading figure in the second generation of Italian rationalists would open to far broader horizons, enriched by his exile in Switzerland, where he, a Jew, fled just a few days after that terrible date