Docomomo US is pleased to announce ten winners of the 2016 Modernism in America Awards program. These projects are exemplary of the efforts going on all over the country as the awareness of the importance to advocate, restore and celebrate the architecture, landscapes and typologies of postwar society in the United States continues to expand.

The projects recognized for the Modernism in America Awards (#ModernismAwards) highlight the diversity of important modern buildings and sites, and a new desirability by the public to live, work and celebrate the richness of midcentury architecture and design. While often at the center of intense preservation efforts, they deserve and can be preserved in a meaningful and productive way that enhances their presence and value in their respective communities.

Docomomo US is proud to announce Design Within Reach as the first program sponsor for the Docomomo US Modernism in America Awards. The 2016 Modernism in America Awards will be awarded on the night of Thursday, September 22, 2016 at the Design Within Reach Studio in New York City.

2016 Modernism in America Jury

The design and survey prize jury was chaired by Frederick A. Bland, FAIA, AICP. Mr. Bland has provided design leadership for more than 40 years on a wide range of projects both in the United States and abroad, including mixed-use, retail, residential, and cultural facilities. He joined Beyer Blinder Belle in 1972, became the first non-founding partner in 1978, and Managing Partner in 2004.

Renowned architects, authors, educators and speakers also on the jury included:

Joan Blumenfeld, FAIA, FIIDA, LEED, ID+C is a design principal and the firm-wide Design Director for Interiors for the firm Perkins+Will. Her work has been published in multiple publications and won over 60 design awards in the past few years alone.

Michelangelo Sabatino is an architect and historian whose research broadly addresses intersections between culture, technology, and design in the built environment. Sabatino is professor and director of the doctoral program at the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture in Chicago.

Deborah Dietsch is an award-winning journalist who writes about architecture, art and design. She is frequent contributor to The Washington Post, Washington Business Journal, Home and Design magazine and other publications. Deborah was the editor-in-chief of Architecture magazine before working as the art and architecture critic for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and The Washington Times.

Jack Pyburn, FAIA, partner of Lord Aeck Sargent and adjunct professor at Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture.

Theodore Prudon, FAIA, FAPT, FoIFI, BNADr is a leading expert on the preservation of modern architecture and a practicing architect in New York City and is the current President of Docomomo US.

Advocacy Award

The Docomomo US Modernism in America Advocacy Award was awarded by the Docomomo US Board of Directors. The Awards will be awarded on September 21, 2016 during a ceremony hosted by the 2016 Awards sponsor Design Within Reach in New York City.

About

The Modernism in America Awards is the only national program that celebrates the people and projects working to preserve, restore and rehabilitate our modern heritage sensitively and productively. The program seeks to advance those preservation efforts; to increase appreciation for the period and to raise awareness of the on-going threats against modern architecture and design.  

The awards acknowledge the substantial contribution preservation in general and the postwar heritage in particular makes to the economic and cultural life of our cities and towns and their respective communities. The awards also set a standard as to what can be accomplished with the productive preservation of these projects. 

Sponsor

Design Within Reach

Design Within Reach makes authentic modern design accessible. When the company was founded in 1998, the classics were very difficult to find. DWR changed that, making innovative works by iconic designers accessible for the first time and continuing to offer the best in modern design – past, present and future – ever since.

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