Preservation's Modernism Issue; The 'White City' of Tel Aviv

Check out the new issue of Preservation, the magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which focuses on modernism. Paul Goldberger, the architecture critic of The New Yorker and a trustee of the National Trust, highlights why it so important to preserve buildings from the recent past in his Modernist Manifesto.

Other articles highlight the architecture of Palm Springs and Tel Aviv, known as White City because of the concentration of 4,000 Bauhuas buildings. In 2003, UNESCO recognized Tel Aviv as a World Heritage site. I was just there and had a chance to tour the city. If you go, check out the Buahaus Center for tours, maps and books. Also, make sure to see the recently opened Bauhaus Museum. The first exhibition includes original furniture, graphics, lamps, and glass and ceramic ware, by Mies van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer, Christian Bell, Wilhelm Wagenfeld and others. Unfortunately, when I stopped by it was closed.

Modern for the Masses

Affordable modern housing for the masses. Wasn't that the original thinking behind the modern movement? The philosophy of the Bauhaus style was to create the "perfect worker housing," as Tom Wolfe wrote in From Bauhaus to Our House. Today, a new breed of architects are seeking to create modern, well-designed and affordable housing for those who can't afford to buy the homes designed by the Bauhaus denizens (here's one in Andover, Mass., by Marcel Breuer) or their successors. Read the Wall Street Journal article detailing these new modern projects.