Docomomo Journal

Essays

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  Sites of Modern Industrial Heritage in Egypt and Iran Local, National, and International Relevance for Conservation and Reuse

  Mirhan Damir, Heike Oevermann, Martin Meyer, Mohammadjavad Mahdavinejad, Hassan Elmouelhi

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  The countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have only recently discovered their modern industrial heritage as an object of conservation and future development. Through an in-depth analysis of four industrial sites in Egypt and Iran, testifying to a designated modern era, this article documents the complex historical process of industrialization and its political and economic background. Building on fieldwork, archive studies, workshops, and interviews, the article explores how built structures of modern industrial sites signify the multi-facetted, symbiotic, and exploitative...

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  Recovering the Historical Construction and Materials of Erik Gunnar Asplund’s Stockholm Public Library

  Patrick Fleming, Petronella Mill, Marcelo Rovira Torres, Anders Bergström

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  This work presents the first detailed study of the construction and materials of the Stockholm Public Library. As the building undergoes a rare period of maintenance and renovation, the floors and walls of the library are examined from three perspectives. First, using available but limited archival documents and plans; second, with non-destructive ground-penetrating radar measurements; and finally, through on-site surveys during local interventions for the maintenance and renovation process. The ensuing results emphasize the complementary nature of this combined research approach in...

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  From Hospital to Criminal Justice Complex Notes on architectural flexibility through the Santa Casa de Misericórdia de São Paulo

  Ivo Giroto

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  This article analyses the conversion of a big hospital and teaching complex, designed between 1968 and 1978 and commissioned by Santa Casa de Misericórdia de São Paulo to a team of architects led by Fábio Moura Penteado, into the biggest criminal justice complex in Latin America, since it was acquired by the State of São Paulo in the mid-1990s and opened in 1999. The architectural characteristics and the superlative scale of the complex constitute a privileged object to analyze the potentialities and limits of architectural flexibility, as well as how this concept is related to the...

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  A Listed Public Heritage or Shopping Mall? Latent Conflicts at the Lagoa Rowing Stadium

  Renato Alves e Silva

  The recognition of 20th-century architecture in Brazil is still a field restricted to specialists, which makes the remaining assets of this collection susceptible to defacement or even destruction. The designation of the Lagoa Rowing Stadium as a historic landmark by the city of Rio de Janeiro gives us the possibility of reflecting on the existing dispute between the public interest, protected by the listing in 2005, versus the financial voracity of private groups toward the asset in question. Grotesque defacement was undertaken starting in 2003 with the approval of the State and city...