Clothing designer Rumi Murakami Robertson's love of modern design runs deep. When she heard the Docomomo US National Symposium was coming to Hawaii, she was moved to participate. 

Docomomo US is pleased to announce two new guest speakers for the opening and closing receptions. 

Do you love all things Mid-Century in Indiana? Indiana Modern, an affinity group of Indiana Landmarks has announced a contest on Instagram, #INModernLove, starting Aug. 19 and running through Oct. 1, that challenges people to post their best images of Indiana mid-century structures and landscapes.

Docomomo US membership rates will increase starting on September 1. 

A new book on the thin shell concrete designs of innovative structural engineer Jack Christiansen (1927 - 2017) has just been published by University of Washington (UW) Press. Christiansen made significant contributions to modernist architecture in the Pacific Northwest. An exhibition of Christiansen’s work, co-sponsored by Docomomo US/WEWA, will be on view at the University of Washington this fall. 

Film screenings, walking tours, archive visits, and a Lustron House are just some of the things the the Docomomo US/Minnesota chapter has been up to lately. 

Adaptive use remains an important and essential part of the preservation strategies. The case presented by Sara di Resta and Roberta Bartolone is particularly interesting. The Masieri Foundation originally asked Frank Lloyd Wright to design a new building along the Grand Canal in Venice to house its offices, replacing a typical Venetian building. After several attempts the Wright design was officially rejected by the city and Carlo Scarpa – who in turn was an admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright – was commissioned. Rather than designing a completely new building he kept the original facade, a solution typical for many projects in the 1960s and 1970s. It is this building that is being adapted for student housing to host visiting professors and students.

Claes Caldenby’s “Architecture and Society. White Arkitekter and Swedish Post-war Architecture” sketches the design and business trajectory of a large Swedish architectural firm and how its portfolio evolves in response to the changes in policies and the move away from the government’s involvement in housing.

Richard Klein’s contribution, “What is the Legacy of the Architectures of Change?” addresses that other ubiquitous postwar phenomenon of prefabrication and particularly what was then described as industrialized building. Here large factories produced elements, mostly in concrete, that were assembled on-site in multi-story residential buildings of simple shapes allowing quick and efficient assembly. Recognizing the pushback against their monotony, the program Modéles Innovation sought to make the buildings more attractive and unique. Many aspects of this program are reminiscent of the US Housing and Urban Development program Operation Breakthrough of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The Unités d’habitation designed by Le Corbusier and André Wogenscky represent an exceptional moment in the development of the culture of housing in the 20th century. Here, Franz Graf looks at the evolution of the five Unites d’habitation sites. In many instances they are no longer the social housing they were intended to be and have become quite fashionable residences.

Preservation of modern architecture is not just a local but a global concern. Recent high profile events including the fire at Nore Dame, the inscription of Frank Lloyd Wright sites on the World Heritage List, and the announcement of the Getty's Keeping it Modern grants, remind us of this fact. In this special edition of the newsletter, we take a look international efforts to preserve modernism which remind us that preservation is not just local and that Docomomo US is part of an international network working to save our modern heritage across the globe.

New England Modernism: Revolutionary Architecture in the 20th Century is a six-part documentary series produced by Jake Gorst and Tracey Rennie Gorst, with project consultant Hicks Stone. They are raising funds for the project through a GoFundMe campaign. 

AIA, the American Institute of Architects, is the profesionnal organization for architects in the US. AIA members must take courses and meet a minimum requirement every year to stay up to date on skills and recent developments in the field. Docomomo US is an approved AIA CES provider. Some portions of the 2019 National Symposium have been approved for AIA credits. 

We have already given you five reasons to revisit Hawaii in its heyday this September, but in case that was not enough, here are five more we hope will entice you to register today.

This year, two travel grants were made available to students and emerging professionals with an interest in studying the Modern Movement to attend the 2019 National Symposium in Hawaii. We are pleased to announce the recipients of this year's awards.

The Surfjack Hotel & Swim Club is a midcentury modern boutique hotel that has established itself as one of Waikiki’s most sought after experiences for art, music and cultural events. This design-centric outpost quickly built a following among locals and visitors alike for its iconic “Wish you were here!” pool, boutique coffee bar Olive & Oliver, and acclaimed Oahu-born Chef Ed Kenney’s restaurant, Mahina & Sun’s.

Fenway Clayworks is the result of a lifelong interest in functional ceramics. Its founder, Sean VanderVliet has 20 years of experience as ceramicist, using his hands to craft and sculpt objects for the home. Sean speaks to the subconscious influence design has on us, how we consume it daily without realizing it, and how that has manifested in his work.

Vivian Beer is a furniture designer/maker based in New England. Her sleek, abstracted metal and concrete furniture combines the aesthetic sensibilities of contemporary design, craft, and sculpture to create furniture that alter expectations of and interface with the domestic landscape. She shares with us the people and pieces of midcentury design that have sparked her imagination. 

W X Y is an award-winning multi-disciplinary practice specializing in the realization of urban design, planning and architectural solutions in challenging contexts. For our Inspired by Midcentury feature, WXY tells a visual story of how their work has taken inspiration from one early and one later example of European modernism. 

Since 1985, Raymond Jungles, Inc. (RJI), has developed a dynamic practice inspired by the ethic of stewardship of the land under the leadership of Raymond Jungles. Here, RJI shares how their approach to landscape is informed by artists, architects, and designers of the midcentury.