A midcentury PepsiCo plant in Doral, Florida is slated for redevelopment, which may include demolition of all current buildings, including a unique brutalist theater designed to resemble a bottle cap. 

2021 - new year, new modern homes (and apartments, and ... floating homes?!) on the market for your viewing pleasure. What does this year's real estate market have in store? Keep scrolling to find out!

If there is one industry that defines the mid-century, it’s Travel and Leisure. Whether hitting the road by car or jetting off to exotic locations, modern ideals and aesthetics can be found just about everywhere you look.

In a year in which the United States of America has been ravaged by the worst pandemic in a century and economic devastation that may take generations to repair, Docomomo US is disturbed and appalled by the December 21, 2020 announcement of the Executive Order on Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture

With a new year on the horizon, the repercussions of the past year on modern sites we love are front and center. Here are some of the issues and threatened sites that will be on our radar in 2021.

When one thinks of Kansas, a hotbed of progressive design is likely not the first descriptor that comes to mind. One usually thinks of the Wizard of Oz, figures like Dwight D. Eisenhower, and perhaps the origin of fast food pizza (Pizza Hut). That said, a deeper review of architecture and design brings to the forefront the breadth of modernism that can be found throughout the state.

In October of 2020, in the middle of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Wichita Public Library, likely the first Brutalist building designed in the state of Kansas, became the state’s first Beton Brut building added to the National Register of Historic Places. The Library nomination was rushed through, along with a separate nomination for the adjacent Century II Performing Arts and Convention Center by concerned citizens against the wishes of developers and City officials.

Kansas, the 15th largest state by area, resides at the geographical center of the continental United States. “The Sunflower State” combines mostly family-owned farms and ranches with the robust aviation industry that made the state a strategic military training center during World War II. Paralleling this, between 1941 and 1956 the population of Kansas’s largest city, Wichita, doubled from 115,000 to 240,000 during the peak years of postwar modernism.

We are happy to report that the first-ever Docomomo US silent auction was a resounding success. The total amount raised towards our cause of continuing to save the modern sites you love was $28,188! A sincere thank you to all of our donors, many of which are long-standing friends, members, foundations and architectural firms, and congratulations to all of the winners! 

We may not be able to take part in many of our usual activities right now, but thankfully curling up with a good book is not one of them. In fact it is one activity we would highly encourage. Peruse our 2020 Holiday Book List for great midcentury architecture and design books to add to your roster, plus some aspirational reads in the travel and leisure category to get ready for when we can finally travel again.

What modern preservation struggle matters most to you? This Giving Tuesday, we are giving you the chance to spotlight a modern preservation struggle (past or present) that is important to you.

The Docomomo US annual Tour Day event celebrates the #70sTurn50 this year. If you missed out on any of the grooviness, we have compiled all of the virtual events that were recorded here in one place.

The 2020 Modern Holiday Gift Guide brings '70s cheer to your gift giving this year. Offering curated picks from @hoodmidcenturymodern, the year's best new architecture Instagram, two Docomomo US board members with impeccable taste, and our Executive Director, who always manages to find the next big thing before anyone else, the guide has something for everyone. 

Docomomo US/Philadelphia Board Member Grace Ong Yan's new book Building Brands explores the role of architectural branding in the design of corporate modernism and tells how business strategies, modern architecture, urban conditions, and conceptions of society shaped the ambitious branding goals of corporate clients. 

Milwaukee’s former Forest Home Library branch is an iconic mid-century modern building. The library, which won multiple design awards for its innovative use of materials, scale, and functionality, is now threatened by demolition by a developer claiming it cannot be rehabilitated for new uses.

Adapted from an assignment for the class Modern American Architecture on the Historic Preservation program at GSAPP, Columbia University, James E. Churchill discusses the global impact of New Brutalism and the attempt to reinstall ethics and humanism into architectural design and examines the works of Louis I. Kahn, his connections to C.I.A.M. and the three-phase plan for the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

When Docomomo US was created more than 20 years ago, we set out to build a network of like-minded individuals to offer leadership, knowledge, and enthusiasm for the modern movement, which was little and little appreciated. We could not have envisioned the remarkable change in public attitude toward modernism we see today. That enthusiasm is due in large part to our long-standing members' dedication, interest and support in advancing the understanding of modern architecture and design.

There has been a rush of iconic modernist homes making their way to market this fall, from Richard Neutra's Kaufmann Desert House to Wallace K. Harrison's personal 1930s summer house. We're hoping they find the right buyers, maybe that's you? For those of us with not quite so much cash on hand, there are plenty of other midcentury homes to seek out, and we've rounded up our favorites here.

In celebration of great photography and modernism, Docomomo US is creating limited edition sets of twelve postcards featuring each of the winning photographs. Pre-order a set (or two) today!

By the 1970s, modern architecture in Hawaii had donned many different garbs. To explore the various ways modernism was interpreted in 1970s Hawaii, the chapter has created a Google Earth map of 1970s sites throughout the state. Additionally, Docomomo US/Hawaii's annual walking tour (virtual this year!) will explore the theme “The 70s Turn 50” by highlighting buildings constructed in Honolulu between 1970-1972. These five sites, voted on by chapter members, reflect the many trends architects and designers were experimenting with at the time.