Docomomo International | Conferences

Tenth International Docomomo Conference

Rotterdam, September 13–20, 2008

The Challenge of Change: Dealing with the Legacy of the Modern Movement

The legacy of the modern movement has gained legendary status, largely as a result of the appreciation of the masterworks and the visionary architectural concepts. In the reality of everyday life, however, it has been difficult to maintain the architectural creations of the modern movement in such a way that they still reflect the original intentions of their designers.

Many buildings and ensembles of the modern movement have already been saved; the icons amongst these have even become so precious that they are treated like pieces of art rather than as buildings in everyday use. But despite the success that have been achieved, many buildings and ensembles are still at risk of demolition or maltreatment. The biennial international conference is one means by which it is possible to continue furthering the aims of Docomomo.

Knowing that many modern architects aimed at functionality and changeability, the challenge for today is how to deal with the modern heritage in relation to its continuously changing context, including physical, economic and functional changes, as well as socio-cultural, political and scientific ones. It is with this in mind that conservation in general, and the conservation of modern architecture in particular, has become a new challenge. Rather than attempting to return a modern building to its presumed original state, our challenge is to revalue the essence of the manifold manifestations of modern architecture and redefine its meanings in our changing world of digital revolution, worldwide mobility and environmental awareness.

Read the table of contents of the proceedings of the Tenth International Docomomo Conference: “The Challenge of Change: Dealing with the Legacy of the Modern Movement.”

The Second International Docomomo Workshop made a sizeable contribution to the general program of the 10th international Docomomo Conference in Rotterdam in September 2008. The theme and area of study were chosen on the basis of two complementary issues: recognition of the specificity and current urban development of Rotterdam on the one hand; and the need to tackle the urgent problems raised by the highly controversial re-design of Rotterdam city center and the proposed demolition of the Lijnbaan shopping area on the other.
The theme of the workshop ‘Strategies for the Coolsingel Strip’ gives serious pause for thought. Coolsingel, the backbone of 21st-century Rotterdam and dramatically reshaped by the trend towards newborn Manhattanism, is the repository of the Rotterdam collective memory. The handful of public buildings that survived the Luftwaffe bombing raids on May 14, 1940 inspired the construction of a modern boulevard, flanked by some remarkable edifices that reconfigured the vision of urban space.
As the area of study for the workshop, Lijnbaan tested the students’ ability to rethink Rotterdam’s modernist heritage as an asset and challenged them to put forward proposals on various scales and under diverse economic constraints. Students and tutors worked hard to come up with solutions. They rose to the challenge of measuring their plans on a human scale and tried to avoid formal gestures that favor designing within the interstices and remodeling spaces via changes that generate more sensible and body-related urban tissues. This new vision, which sees heritage as a living force and a priority for human beings living in a multilayered; built-up environment, lies at the heart of this report. Whatever future awaits Coolsingel, some of the ideas presented in this have already proven vital; let us hope that they will prove fruitful as well.

Read the table of contents of the Second International Docomomo Workshop: “The Challenge of Change: Coolsingel Strip Rotterdam.”