The Getty Foundation has selected 13 pivotal Modernist structures located around the world to receive funding for conservation and restoration initiatives as part of its Keeping It Modern Architecture Conservation Grants program. 

As in years passed, the selected structures are located globally, with this year's collection of funded projects highlighting several structures that celebrate "post-independence African modernism." Launched in 2014, the Keeping It Modern Initiative has supported a total of 77 projects in 40 countries so far, according to the Getty Foundation

“Modern architecture, with its experimental materials and structural innovations, is a powerful cultural expression that took many forms worldwide,” said Joan Weinstein, director of the Getty Foundation. “These buildings embody human ingenuity, but many are showing their age and face irreversible damage or even demolition if we fail to act. Our Keeping It Modern grantees across the globe are working to safeguard this modern heritage for future generations, and to produce models of best practice that other stewards of modern architecture can learn from.”

2020 Keeping it Modern Grant Awardees

Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, Netherlands (architect: Gerrit Rietveld, 1963). Grant support: €175,000.

The Ritveld Academie is designed by Dutch modernist Gerrit Rietveld and was created to, according to the Getty, embody the "idea of architecture not as mass but as a boundary made of space and light."

"A Getty grant for a conservation management plan will help the school both preserve the building's original fabric and develop new solutions that accommodate modern-day educational technology and energy efficiency standards," the grant organizers explain. 

Swimming Pools, Leça, Portugal (architect: Álvaro Siza, 1966). Grant support: €100,000.

Álvaro Siza's rectilinear concrete pools "remain one of the most celebrated projects in a career that spans decades and continents," the Getty writes. Grant funding will go toward investigating how to repair the site's concrete walls and toward the development of a conservation management plan. 

International Fairgrounds, Dakar, Senegal (architects: Jean-François Lamoureux and Jean-Louis Marin, 1974). Grant support: $190,000.

The Jean-François Lamoureux and Jean-Louis Marin-designed Centre International du Commerce Extérieur du Sénégal (CICES) is a "preeminent example of post-independence African modernism," the Getty Institute explains, forged as part of an effort to help "young countries assert new national identities." The grand structures make use of repeating "triangular shape in a dizzying array of formats and scales to create both variation and unity across the five-acre site."

"With Getty support," grant organizers write, "an experienced project team will develop a detailed conservation management plan for the complex, collaborating with local Senegalese professionals and architectural students."

Kuwait Towers, Kuwait City, Kuwait (architect: Malene Bjørn, 1976). Grant support: $180,000.

These futuristic towers are designed overlooking Kuwait Bay, and are designed by Danish architect Malene Bjørn in collaboration with Sune Lindström and the Swedish engineering company VBB "during a period of significant modernization across Kuwait," the Getty Institute explains. Functional water towers, the spires hold over 2.3 million gallons of water, including a viewing platform and a lightweight aluminum and a glass-wall enclosure designed by Buckminster Fuller. 

Conservation efforts will focus on conducting a technical study to identify the underlying problem behind the material failures along each orb's shimmering, metal disc-wrapped exterior. The Getty explains that the project team will "collaborate with international experts and leverage the opportunity to share their research with local Kuwaiti architects, conservators, and engineers."

Monasterio Benedictino de la Santísima Trinidad de las Condes, Santiago, Chile (architects: Brother Martín Correa and Gabriel Guarda OSB, 1964). Grant support: $180,000.

Located in Chile, the Monasterio Benedictino de la Santísima Trinidad de Las Condes was designed by monastery residents and architects Brother Martín Correa and Father Gabriel Guarda OSB. Designed to follow the austere precepts of the Second Vatican Council, the concrete structure features geometric designs and is lit with natural night. 

The monastery was recognized locally as a national historic monument in 1981 but has yet to receive a comprehensive conservation plan; This planning will now take place via an effort led by the Universidad del Desarrollo and the monastery itself.

Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife-Ife, Nigeria (architect: Arieh Sharon, 1962-76). 

Sharon's Obafemi Awolowo University was one of many higher education institutions built after Nigeria's independence in 1960. The university campus features a mix of Bauhaus principals and "tropical modernism" approaches, including climate responsive designs. 

The Faculty of Environmental Design and Management at Obafemi Awolowo University working with a Berlin-based architectural firm to develop a comprehensive conservation management plan that "not only preserves this postcolonial, modernist site but can also set standards for the care of many other campus structures across the region inspired by its architectural forms," the Getty Institute writes. 

White Tower, Ekaterinburg, Russia (architect: Moisei Reisher, 1929-31). Grant support: $180,000.

The Constructivist White Tower of Ekaterinburg "epitomizes the rapid industrialization of Russia during the 1930s," the grant organizers write, and is used to supply water to a nearby factory town. When first completed, the structure was among the tallest water tower in the world; It has the capacity to store over 180,000 gallons. It has been out of use since the 1960s. 

Since 2012, local non-profit PODELNIKI architecture group has worked to find a way to salvage the structure and is now working with the Schusev State Museum of Architecture to lead a conservation management plan effort for the tower.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad, India (architect: Charles Correa; structural design: Mahendra Raj, 1966).Grant support: $230,000.

Charles Correa's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad "helped define the architecture of post-independence India," the Getty writes, adding, "The stadium's distinct, cantilevered framing takes its structural power from an elegantly zig-zagging exterior wall that provides added reinforcement."

Grant funding will go toward creating a plan to conserve the stadium's failing concrete structural elements as part of an effort to create a national model for concrete conservation in the area. 

Oberstufen-Schulzentrum Wedding (secondary school), Berlin, Germany (architects: Pysall, Jensen, Stahrenberg & Partner, 1976). Grant support: €120,000.

A bright orange, modular structure with curved corners and rounded windows, the Oberstufen-Schulzentrum (OSZ) Wedding lends "a distinctive Pop flare to the Bauhaus-derived language of international modernism." 

Declining enrollment forced the school to close in 2011, the Getty explains, and now conservation grants will help an interdisciplinary team of experts "research the building and define an overarching strategy for its conservation, new operations, and long-term management."

Tecton Buildings at Dudley Zoo and Castle, Dudley, West Midlands, United Kingdom (architects: Berthold Lubetkin and the Tecton Group, 1937). Grant support: £120,000.

In Britain, The Bertold Lubetkin-designed Tecton structures at the Dudley Zoo and Castle exist as circular concrete forms with ties to the radical modernist Tecton Group. The Getty Institute explains that "building on a 2011 conservation management plan, the project team will use grant funds for concrete testing, structural surveys, and site investigations. They will then complete new use studies and costing plans to restore long-term operations to the Tropical Bird House, Elephant House, Education Centre, and Queen Mary Café."

Buzludzha Monument, Hadzhi Dimitar Peak, Bulgaria (architect: Georgi Stoilov, 1981). Grant support: $60,000.

This building received a Keeping It Modern planning grant in 2019, and has received another this year for the immediate stabilization of its interior artwork, the Getty explains. The Buzludzha Monument was built to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Bulgarian Communist Party and is influenced by the Brutalist architecture of the 1960s. 

First Presbyterian Church, Stamford, Connecticut (architect: Wallace K. Harrison, 1958). Grant support: $240,000.

The First Presbyterian Church received an earlier Getty grant for conservation research and planning in 2016 and is now receiving implementation grants to support treatment efforts. The suburban church "blends innovative design with modernist interpretations of traditional cathedral elements," according to the Getty. New funding will help to implement a conservation management plan crafted after the 2016 funding round. 

Gandhi Bhawan, Chandigarh, India (architect: Pierre Jeanneret, 1962). Grant support: ₹14,000,000.

This building also received a previous Getty grant in 2017. Designed by Pierre Jeanneret, the Gandhi Bhawan at Panjab University is described by the Getty as "one of India's most stunning examples of post-independence modernist architecture" and includes a large reflecting pool, a three-winged structure that "takes the shape of an abstracted lotus-flower." The latest funding infusion will work to implement a conservation management plan crafted with the help of the previous grant.