View No. 41 (2009): Nine Favorite Architects

This is the 40th issue of the Docomomo Journal. I remember that in September 2002, when I started my chairmanship, the publication of the Journal seemed a most challenging responsibility. Our aim was to publish a series of six issues, which at the time seemed a considerable accomplishment. In six years we have been able to double that number. This March issue is the best demonstration of Docomomo's growing significance considering both the relevance of the themes it addresses, and its value as a mediator between chapters and public institutions. The table of contents exemplifies at best the Journal's dual character. We are very pleased, on the one hand, to celebrate in our pages the 100-year anniversary of Tel Aviv, not to mention the city's inscription on the World Heritage List. Since Tel Aviv's inscription in 2003, the city has significantly developed public awareness regarding the value of architectural landmarks. All preservation efforts are based on a recent statute that protects built areas and restricts construction in the vicinity of designated landmarks. As the Unesco declaration notes, if the entire White City project is to succeed, outlying areas around landmark buildings in Tel Aviv's White City must be preserved. By selecting authors from different disciplines and backgrounds our guest editor Jeremie Hoffmann, the architect responsible for the preservation management of the White City on behalf of Unesco, has much more than outlined governance's best practices: in fact he introduces a new reading of Geddes's master plan for Tel Aviv and of the Bauhaus legacy as a layered history leading to the creation of a new Hebrew tradition in society and culture. On the other hand, after the special issue of the Journal entitled "Other Modernisms" (March 2007), we are also happy to publish the Registers' selection on "Education." Thanks to the well-developed submissions of 36 chapters we are able to present a wide range of examples of kindergartens, elementary and secondary schools, academies, university campuses, laboratories, libraries and museums from the 1920s to the 1980s. The gathered documentation-the necessary condition for safeguarding endeavors-proves that the Docomomo community is fully engaged in the process, and is in itself a call for the Registers' future extension.

Published: 2022-11-10