Renovating the Modern Heritage I

Tel Aviv has over 4000 houses built in new functionalist style — an inexhaustible research arena for architecture historians and a major challenge to conservationists. To accompany the exhibition, and in collaboration with the Austrian Bundesdenkmalamt, the Az W is organising an international symposium dedicated to the challenge posed by ‘Renovating the Modern Heritage’. The symposium focuses on the conservation of the original building substance as far as possible and updating the technological standard of the structures to meet contemporary standards and make alternative use viable.

The revitalisation of the modern architectural heritage is a challenge currently having to be faced by many countries. In Austria, too, innumerable period icons urgently require renovation, e.g. the Werkbundsiedlung needs renovating again, and the plan to open Villa Beer by Josef Frank to the public as a museum has not yet been realised. Accordingly, an international exchange of expertise from specialists in the field promises to provide a new impulse in Austria too.

Programme

Opening 02:00 pm
Dietmar Steiner, Director Az W
Eva-Maria Höhle, Bundesdenkmalamt
Michael Ludwig, Executive City Councillor for Housing, Housing Construction and Urban Renewal
Rudolf Schicker, Executive City Councillor for Urban Development, Traffic and Transport

Speakers
02.30 pm – 03.15 pm
The White City of Tel Aviv — Renovation / Jeremy Hoffmann, Conservation Department, Tel Aviv

03.15 pm – 04:00 pm
The Modern Monuments Programme — Wüstenrotstiftung / Bertold Burkhardt, Braunschweig University of Technology

Break

04:30 pm – 05:15 pm
Renovating Villa Tugendhat (Ludwig Mies van der Rohe) / Jan Sapák, architect and author, Brno

05:15 pm – 06:00 pm
New Findings on Villa Moller (Adolf Loos) / Bruno Maldoner, Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture

Break

06:30 pm – 07:15 pm
Problems In Renovating the Modern Heritage / Bruno Reichlin, Mendrisio Architecture Academy, Switzerland

07:30 pm – 09:00 pm
Panel discussion with Eva-Maria Höhle, Bundesdenkmalamt

Moderated by: Adolph Stiller