Author: Wido Quist

The VIIIth International Docomomo Conference took place at Columbia University in the City of New York in September 2004. Its theme was “Import/Export: Postwar Modernism in an Expanding World, 1945-1975,” and was the first Docomomo International meeting entirely devoted to the postwar period and the first to consider not just the impact of preservation on modernism but the impact of modernism on preservation, thus highlighting the opportunity modernism offers preservation to engage the central issues of our times.

“Living in the Urban Modernity” is the central theme of this Conference, in which the participants will analyze the different components which transformed the city and its architecture in the first part of the 20th Century. During this period the growth of urban areas created a positive environment for the presence of modern architecture. The new materials alongside the new-found technologies brought about novel forms of expression. At the same time social changes acted as triggers for transformation; education, health, hygiene, housing, and the right to work and leisure were essential in shaping buildings and cities, with innovative architectural proposals within inventive
urban fabric.