Theme
Lonestar Modernism: From Wide Open Spaces to Urban Places explores the diverse ways in which the Modern Movement shaped, and was shaped by, the American landscape, from rural communities and small towns to sprawling suburbs and dynamic cities. Taking place in Dallas and Fort Worth, the Symposium uses North Texas as a point of departure for a broader national conversation that explores regional architecture and looks beyond the traditional narratives of American modernism.
Dallas and Fort Worth provide a compelling setting for this exploration: Fort Worth, shaped by its frontier legacy, cattle economy, defense industry, and cultural institutions; and Dallas, shaped by distribution, technology, real-estate speculation, development, and cycles of rapid growth and contraction driven by powerful commercial and financial interests. While the two cities developed distinct identities, they remained closely connected through geography, commerce, and competition. Their relationship helped shape a region that embraced modern architecture and design as an expression of postwar growth, technological optimism, and a changing American identity. The built environment of North Texas reveals the ambitions and contradictions of that transformation, while offering a rich lens through which to consider how similar stories unfolded in cities and communities across the nation.
Lonestar Modernism as a theme seeks to move between wide-open landscapes, suburban development and dense urban environments, connecting local places to national and international currents in modern architecture and design. The Symposium seeks to encourage dialogue and promote a broader understanding of the interplay between preservation, adaptive reuse, sustainability, equity, planning, and cultural identity alongside the history and legacy of modernism.
Goals
Connecting Regional Histories to National Narratives
Expand the story of American modernism to highlight the diverse ways the Modern Movement emerged in rural landscapes, small towns, suburbs, and cities across the U.S., and examine how local conditions impacted regional architectural expression, especially in Texas and the South/Southwest.
Landscape’s Influence on American Modernism
Examine how distinctive landscapes influenced a specific brand of American modernism, from wide open plains and ranchlands, to prairies, rivers, rapidly urbanizing regions, and beyond.
Today’s Challenges in Preserving the Modern Built Environment
Address the challenges and opportunities of preserving, adapting, and reusing modern buildings and landscapes while considering government and regulatory upheaval, changing communities, development pressures, sustainability goals, and evolving ideas about cultural significance.
Modernism, Identity and Representation
Consider how the Modern Movement in architecture and design intersected with race, gender, class, culture, and identity—and the contributions of designers and communities historically left out of conventional narratives.
Session Topics to Consider
- Regional modernism in the South and Southwest
- Modernism in small towns or “in-between” spaces
- Modernist landscapes
- Postmodernism/Recent past
- The 1980s building boom in Dallas
- Designers/communities historically excluded from conventional narratives
- Preserving Black modernism
- Preservation under threat: Political pressures
- Local, state and federal government stewardship of modern resources
- Residential modernism and domestic landscape
- Lessons learned from modern homeowners
- Preservation and housing demands
- Innovative preservation success stories
Submission Guidelines
Abstracts are due by Sunday October 18 at 11:59 pm.
All submissions must be in English. Please read the instructions carefully before submitting. Reach out to symposium@docomomo-us.org with any questions.
Required information:
- Title (65 characters max)
- Lead image (jpg or png)
- Abstract (400 words max)
- Learning objectives (100 words max)
- Session Topic
- Presentation type* (20-minute single presentation or full 60-minute session, see details below)
- Author(s) name, title, affiliation, pronouns, email, phone, and address
- Author(s) biography (200 words max)
- Request and reasoning for financial support, if applicable** (200 words max, see below for details.)
*We strongly encourage single speaker, 20-minute presentations. Full 60-minute session proposals with three speakers are allowed, however, only one or two total will be selected, and they must be very strong proposals. We recommend reaching out to us at info@docomomo-us.org before submitting a full session proposal.
Speaker Requirements
All speakers are expected to appear in person to present their talks.
Speakers are required to provide a recording of their presentation PRIOR to the Symposium. This ensures a higher quality presentation during the Symposium and can be used in the event of the speaker’s absence. The recordings will be provided for free to Symposium attendees after the event and made available to Docomomo US members and the public for a small fee.
**Speakers are expected to financially support their own participation in and travel to the symposium. Speakers can register at the reduced rate of $300. Students enrolled for the 2026-27 or 2027-28 academic year can register at the student rate of $100. If you require further financial support to participate in the Symposium, please include that request and reasoning in your abstract submission.
