Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative

Multi-Project Initiative

Advancing the conservation of twentieth-century heritage internationally

Categories
- Conservation
- Training
Years 2012 – present
Status
- Active
Organizer
- Getty Conservation Institute

A modernist, concrete building with colorful balconies — Unité d'habitation (1952) in Marseille, France, by Le Corbusier. Building: © F.L.C. / ADAGP, Paris / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2022

Photo: Jack Hobhouse / Alamy Stock Photo

About

Goal

The Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative seeks to advance the practice of identifying, conserving, and sustaining the buildings, structures, landscapes, urban areas, and building materials that characterize twentieth-century built heritage.

Outcomes

Three field projects on modern sites that model sound conservation methodologies and technical practices
Training programs on conservation methodologies and technical practices delivered to midcareer professionals
Public program series on modern heritage conservation, with thirteen events held to date
An open access bibliography, Conserving Twentieth-Century Built Heritage, for conservation practitioners working with twentieth-century built heritage
The 2013 Colloquium to Advance the Practice of Conserving Modern Heritage to examine the current state of the field and identify areas of outstanding need in order to develop actions to advance practice in this area of conservation. Report from the colloquium made public
Free, published resources, more than twenty to date, covering a broad range of topics including conservation methodology and principles, management of twentieth-century heritage places, broadening our understanding of and appreciation for twentieth-century built heritage and conserving specific modern materials
Conserving Modern Heritage book series, published by Getty Publications, to promote and demonstrate the application of sound conservation methods to modern heritage. Two titles published to date (Concrete and Managing Energy Use in Modern Buildings) with two titles forthcoming
Conserving Modern Architecture issues of Conservation Perspectives in 2013 and 2023

Background

From the late 1980s, new conservation challenges emerged as the seminal works of the early modern era and midcentury gradually reached fifty years of age and became eligible for heritage protection. Many of these buildings have not aged well. The new and innovative construction methods and materials and new architectural forms and planning approaches that typify the era challenge traditional conservation approaches and raise new methodological and philosophical issues. Despite improved recognition of modern architecture's cultural significance, there is still a lack of practical conservation knowledge that addresses the many complex challenges. The Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative was established to respond to these challenges.

Approach

- Promoting and demonstrating the application of conservation methodologies, principles, tools, and practices for conserving modern heritage
- Developing and implementing new approaches to materials-based conservation challenges
- Demonstrating good conservation techniques through development and implementation of model field projects
- Increasing capacity among practitioners by providing training targeted to specific needs in the field
- Promoting the wise reuse and appropriate adaptation of modern buildings globally as a critical step to combat climate change and global warming
- Making our work accessible to a diverse global audience through global outreach, broad geographic spread in our trainings and case studies, and by providing free publications
During the early planning phase (2011-2013), several steps were taken to define goals and activities to meet the demand for strategic leadership in this emerging conservation sector, maximize our impact, and determine ways to best serve the conservation community. A series of local, national, and international discussions and surveys culminated in a colloquium convened at the Getty Center in 2013. This event brought together an international, multidisciplinary group of some sixty professionals engaged in practice, educators and critical thinkers, and representatives from key American and international conservation organizations. Participants shared their views on what was needed in the field and where knowledge gaps existed. They identified certain critical actions needed by the conservation community.

The colloquium resulted in a list of short- and long-term actions that provided CMAI a roadmap for the years ahead. Key needs identified included education and training, research into modern building materials, guidelines and publications to help practitioners undertake conservation work, and new tools for identification, assessment, and interpretation of modern heritage places.

Project Team

Chandler McCoy, Project Manager, Senior Project Specialist; Ana Paula Arato Gonçalves, Associate Project Specialist; César Bargues Ballester, Associate Project Specialist; Elsa Haarstad, Assistant Project Specialist; Sara Lardinois, Project Specialist; Susan Macdonald, Head, Buildings and Sites; Gail Ostergren, Research Specialist; Margherita Pedroni, Project Specialist; Hongye Wang, Getty Graduate Intern (2024–2025)