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World Monuments Fund: The Latest Architecture and News

Recently Restored Argentinian Icon La Casa sobre el Arroyo Receives 2024 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize

The 1940s architectural marvel Casa Sobre el Arroyo has been awarded the 2024 Worlds Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize for its outstanding restoration. Initially designed in 1943 by architects Amancio Williams and Delfina Galvez Bunge de Williams, this “house on the bridge” symbolizes Argentina’s modernist movement. The project is the first winner of the prestigious Modernism prize in the Global South, now standing as a museum for the protection of Argentina’s modern heritage.

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Ahmedabad's Iconic Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium, Designed by Charles Correa, Set to be Demolished

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has just announced its plan to demolish India's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (SVP) Stadium. The structure was initially designed by Charles Correa and engineer Mahenda Raj in the 1960s. A testament to “the progressive ideals and experimental spirit that characterized India’s post-independence period,” this iconic modernist structure has hosted ample cultural events for the city.

The structure was originally built to host international and domestic cricket matches. In the 1950s, the Cricket Club of Ahmedabad was granted 67,000 sqm of land to construct a Cricket Stadium. It was the country’s first “turf ground,” hosting the first cricket match in India. For the cricket community in the country, the SVP represents a venue that has nurtured and honed young cricketers from all over the state, and it has been graced by several of India's legendary players in both test and one-day cricket matches.

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World Monuments Fund Announces Financing for New Projects to Safeguard Endangered Places Worldwide

The World Monuments Fund (WMF) announced a commitment of more than US$10 million to go towards preservation projects to protect culturally significant places from around the globe in urgent need of intervention. The initiatives vary in scope, from winterization efforts at Ukrainian heritage sites to protecting remote archeological sites representative of Peru’s Chachapoyas Civilization. The suite of projects launching in 2023 aims to address and help mitigate the threats that heritage sites are facing: conflict, climate change, and underrepresentation.

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6 Months of War in Ukraine: Preservation Initiatives, Temporary Shelters, and Fears of Nuclear Accidents

This week marks six months since Russia launched its war and invaded cities in Ukraine, causing detrimental destruction on a local and global scale. Since the beginning of the war, millions of Ukrainians have been internally displaced, losing their homes, businesses, and families. UNESCO has verified damage to 139 sites, including 62 religious sites, 12 museums, 26 historic buildings, 17 buildings dedicated to cultural activities, 15 museums, and seven libraries across Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhya, Zhytomyr, Donetsk, Lugansk, and Sumy.

To help mitigate the devastating repercussions of the war on Ukrainians and the country's heritage, several humanitarian, preservation, and economic initiatives have been put in place by NGO's and governments from across the world. 

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World Monuments Fund Announces 25 Endangered Heritage and Cultural Sites for 2022

The World Monuments Fund has released its 2022 World Monuments Watch list, a selection of 25 sites from across the globe that hold great cultural and heritage significance but are being faced with economic, political or natural threats. This year's selection highlights themes of global issues such as climate change, imbalanced tourism, underrepresentation, and recovery from crisis, urging for prompt preservation plans.

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Kenzo Tange Gymnasium and 7 Other Threatened Sites Receive $1M in Preservation Funding

Eight sites from the World Monuments Fund’s 2018 World Monuments Watch list have been awarded $1 million in funding from American Express to support much-needed preservation and restoration initiatives. The sites were selected based on their vulnerability to specific threats like natural disasters, climate change or social forces like urbanization that have left them neglected.

2018 World Monuments Watch Lists 50 Cultural Sites at Risk from Human and Natural Threats

The World Monuments Fund has announced their 2018 World Monuments Watch, highlighting 25 cultural sites from across the globe currently at risk due to economic, political or natural threats. Covering more than 30 countries and territories, these monuments represent sites of exceptional cultural value dating from prehistory to the 20th century.

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Rehabilitation of Netherlands Complex Wins World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize 2016

Molenaar & Co architecten (Rotterdam), Hebly Theunissen architecten (Delft), and landscape architect Michael van Gessel (Amsterdam) have won the 2016 World Monuments Fund/ Knoll Modernism Prize for the preservation and rehabilitation of the Justus van Effen complex in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Originally designed by Michiel Brinkman in 1919-1921 and completed in 1922, the Justus van Effen complex is a strong example of the ideals embodied in the modern movement, particularly with its use of an elevated “street” as a means of facilitating social cohesion, which became very influential for subsequent generations of designers. 

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Heritage & Conflict: Syria’s Battle to Protect its Past

For the inaugural talk in World Monuments Fund Britain's Heritage & Conflict series, we welcome Prof. Maamoun Abdulkarim, Director-General of Antiquities and Museums for Syria, to give the human story behind the global headlines, and James Davis from the Google Cultural Institute, to report on the latest international efforts to scan and document cultural heritage through advancing technology. The evening will be introduced by Lisa Ackerman, Executive Vice President of World Monuments Fund.

World Monuments Fund Releases List of 50 Endangered Cultural Sites

The World Monuments Fund has released its 2016 World Monuments Watch list of 50 cultural heritage sites at risk in 36 countries around the world. The list, in its twentieth year, seeks to identify sites “at risk from the forces of nature and the impacts of social, political, and economic change,” and direct financial and technical support towards them.

The 2016 list includes the entirety of post-earthquake Nepal, an underwater city, the only surviving quadrifrons arch in Rome, and a structurally significant hyperboloid tower, among others. The Fund even featured an “Unnamed Monument” on the list, in honor of all sites at risk of damage from social and political instability around the globe.

Learn more about some of the featured monuments, after the break.

Alvar Aalto's Restored Viipuri Library Wins 2014 Modernism Prize

The 2014 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize has been awarded to the Finnish Committee for the restoration of Alvar Aalto’s seminal Viipuri Library in Vyborg, Russia. “Designed by Aalto and constructed between 1927 and 1935 in what was then the Finnish city of Viipuri,” stated WMF in a press release, “the library reflects the emergence of Aalto’s distinctive combination of organic form and materials with the principles of clear functionalist expression that was to become the hallmark of his architecture.”

A quote from Barry Bergdoll and more images, after the break.

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WMF partners with Google to Preserve World Heritage Sites

WMF partners with Google to Preserve World Heritage Sites - Featured Image
Stonehenge, Avebury : Screenshot via World Wonders Project

From the archeological areas of Stonehenge to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Google’s World Wonders Project is dedicated to digitally preserving and virtually sharing the World’s Heritage Sites. Users can explore some of the world’s greatest places through panoramic images, 3D laser scanned models, videos and informative text. Although Google World Wonders is a new and ongoing project, they already have more than 130 sites in 18 countries featured. The project is also an educational resource, allowing students and scholars to use the materials to discover some of the most famous sites on earth. A selection of free educational packages are available to download for classroom use.

Google World Wonders is made possible through the partnership of Google, UNESCO, the World Monuments Fund and Cyark, with a shared mission to preserve world heritage sites for future generations.

Start exploring here.