Preserving the Recent Past conference returns in 2025

News  

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Preserving the Recent Past conference series and the founding of Docomomo US, PRP4 will provide a national forum to share the latest strategies for identifying, protecting, and conserving significant structures and sites from the post-war era.

Student and Emerging Professional Grants for Preserving the Recent Past 4

News  

This New York Tri-State Chapter scholarship will enable two individuals committed to the documentation and conservation of Modern Movement buildings, landscapes, and sites to participate in the Preserving the Recent Past conference in Boston.

Member's Tour: Materialized Space—The Architecture of Paul Rudolph

Event Nov 20  

Join us for a members-only, private gallery tour of the Met’s exhibition Materialized Space: The Architecture of Paul Rudolph led by curator Abraham Thomas.

J. Max Bond, Jr. Lecture: Architects’ Renewal Committee in Harlem at 60

Event Nov 15  

This year’s J. Max Bond Jr. Lecture will explore the Architects’ Renewal Committee in Harlem, which was created to serve the planning and urban design needs of Harlem residents.

Circle, Square, Triangle: The Architecture of Myron Goldfinger

Through Dec 31  

These two interconnected exhibitions of Myron Goldfinger’s architecture; one at the Paul Rudolph Institute for Modern Architecture and one at Mitchell Algus Gallery, offer complementary studies of Goldfinger’s work, exploring his built residential projects and his unbuilt and community architecture.

Building Tour: Saarinen-designed 51W52 (aka Black Rock)

Event Nov 19  

The only high rise designed by Eero Saarinen, the 38-story CBS headquarters was described by its architect as “the simplest skyscraper statement in New York.” The developers and architects for the recent renovation will lead a tour.

Materialized Space—The Architecture of Paul Rudolph

Through Mar 16  

The Met presents the first-ever major museum exhibition to examine the career of Paul Rudolph and showcase the full breadth of Rudolph’s contributions to architecture—from experimental houses in Florida to utopian visions for urban megastructures.

Fate of Aalto Kaufmann Conference Center at UN decided

News  

The 4,500 sq ft. interior has been carefully dismantled and is now owned by Finland. Portions of interior and furnishings will be used in a traveling exhibition. While better than private hands or a dumpster, this is a tragic architectural loss for NYC.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Southwestern Pennsylvania

Through Mar 17  

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Southwestern Pennsylvania, a new exhibition at the National Building Museum, presents both realized and unrealized projects and examines how FLW’s vision of the future might have impacted urban, suburban, and rural landscapes.

Capital Brutalism

Through Feb 17  

The National Building Museum’s exhibition Capital Brutalism explores the history, current state, and future of seven polarizing buildings and the Metro system in Washington, D.C.

Tours, drinks and urban renewal

Pics from “Complexities of the Modern American City,” the 2023 Docomomo National Symposium in New Haven, CT. The largest ever.

Conversation pit comeback?

Are conversation pits the antidote to endless hours in front of screens? Possibly. Check out conversation_pits on instagram for all the inspiration you’ll ever need. It’s a lot about the pillows.

The world is full of DOCOMOMO

Docomomo International recently added five country-level working parties: Bahrain, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. The organization now counts 77 working parties and more than 3,000 international-level members.

Shower in the spirit of FLW

It was only a matter of time. “With the stroke of his pencil he gave structure to life, and life to structure. That is a legacy that lives on.” Now, we’re told, in a new bathroom fixture collection from BRIZO. Catch the video.

Expand your MoMo horizons

Docomomo Journal is the peer-reviewed journal of Docomomo International that, since 1990, has provided a twice-yearly collection of recent and original research on the documentation and conservation of Modern Movement sites. The journal is now open access and digitized back to 2010. Peruse some great issues at our leisure.

Cats of Brutalism

Apparently cats like Brutalism a lot more than architectural pundits, civic leaders and everyday onlookers. This Instagram account—taglined a “daily dose of cats and concrete”—is all fun. If you’re on Instagram check out Julliard School, Pirelli Building, Whitney Museum and more.

Eames Office Explains Magnitude

Along with architecture, Charles and Ray Eames made their mark in short films. In Power of Ten, a 1977 film for IBM, the duo visualized the concept of magnitude and it still mesmerizes. Six million YouTube viewers couldn’t be wrong.