Cover Text
The cultural significance of the architecture of Classical Modernism as a design has been increasingly brought to public attention by the inscription of some monuments on the UNESCO World Heritage List: e.g. Bauhaus in Dessau in 1996, Haus Schroeder in Utrecht in 2000, Villa Tugendhat in Brno in 2001, the White City in Tel Aviv in 2003.
The occasion for the symposium and its documentation was the interdisciplinary research on the Villa Tugendhat in Brno. This building, planned and built by Mies van der Rohe in 1928-1930, is one of the most important buildings of European modernism.
The objective of the conference volume is to bring together all the knowledge available worldwide on the materials and techniques used on Classical Modernist buildings. Experts from the fields of conservation, monument preservation, architecture, art history and natural sciences from seven different countries base their contributions on the ways of preservation and maintenance. With this thematic focus, the volume brings the original surfaces of architecture as well as interiors (especially wood, linoleum, metal, glass) into the scientific spotlight for the first time worldwide. For the historical value of a cultural monument is inseparably linked to its material basis. Especially with the unadorned cubic structures of Classical Modernism, the materiality of the surfaces is of particular importance.