"Modern architecture is a defining artistic form of the 20th century at considerable risk, often due to the cutting-edge building materials that characterized the movement." -Deborah Marrow
In news that will surely make Prince Charles sigh with displeasure, the Getty Foundation announced it is awarding $1.75 million of grants to help preserve 14 structures in the modern style, including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple, Walter Gropius’ residence ‘The Gropius House,’ and the Rietveld Schröder House. This is the second year the foundation has awarded the grants, and has chosen the buildings because (ironically) concrete as a building material has proven to be less than solid. “The use of concrete, while visually striking and radical for its time, has created a unique set of challenges for conserving some of the world’s most important modernist structures,” noted Antoine Wilmering, a senior program officer at the Getty Foundation. “Our new grants offer an excellent opportunity to advance research and conservation practices for this material. The accumulated knowledge that will result from the projects will be of tremendous benefit to the field.”
While the first year's grants were invitation-only, this year the Getty opened up the application process. According to a press release issued by the Getty, applications were judged based on factors such as architectural significance and the likelihood that the project would "serve as a model for conservation practice."
4 Comments
But....there is actually very little concrete in the Rietveld-Schroder House, the walls are plastered brick. The balcony slabs are the exception.
+1 for academic research! Thank you for that clarification, Thomas.
Thanks, Donna. The story is that the client was a widow and she did not have the money to do the house in concrete. She was dedicated to the ideals of De Stijl, though. The construction is (like many early modernist experiments) fairly traditional. The walls I mentioned, but the floors, roof overhangs and so on are just regular joists with wood fascias. The materials were often stretched to their limits, though. There have been problems with sagging and drooping of the cantilevered parts - especially the concrete balconies. More information is in the book written by Bertus Mulder, Gerrit Thomas Rietveld - Life Thoughts Work.
If I remember correctly Mulder worked for Rietveld and later did one of the first restorations.
Why do you think that Charles would object to the Getty Foundation spending money to renovate and restore a handful of iconic modernist buildings?
I'm not sure that he has ever objected to a restoration of historically mportant existing modernism. Cheap shot.
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