HOW DOES DOCOMOMO DEFINE MODERNISM?
DOCOMOMO US states that a building or structure must have been designed and constructed during the Modern period, the duration of which we define as roughly the 1920s to the 1970s. In order to apply the label of “modern” to a built work, it must conform to the following definition of Modern:

  • The Modern Movement was an artistic and architectural movement that embodied the unique early twentieth century notion that artistic works must look forward to the future without overt references to historical precedent.
  • Modern design emphasized expression of functional, technical or spatial properties rather than reliance on decoration.
  • Modern design was conscious of being modern: it purposefully expressed the principles of modern design.
Learn more.

Common Terms to Describe Modern Architecture:
Art Deco, Streamline, Moderne, Bauhaus, Prefabricated, International, Mid-Century, Atomic, Modern, Googie, Art Nuevo, Constructionist, Cubist, Futurism, Machine Age, Brutalist,  Brutalism, Corporate Modern/Slick Skin, Curtain Wall, Geodesic Dome, International, Miesian, Neo Expressionism, New Formalism, Pavilion, Populuxe, Quonset Hut, Wrightian, Usionian.

GETTING STARTED​

Want to research your own home? 

Want to browse all the modern buildings and sites Minnesota has to offer? 

Want to know more about an Architect, builder, or building? 
Northwest Architectural Archives
Minnesota History Center Gale Family Library
Minnesota Architects: A Biographical Dictionary by Alan K. Lathrop
AIA Guide to the Twin Cities by: Larry Millett ​


​Docomomo US
Duluth Preservation Alliance
Historic St. Paul
MNHS
Minnesota Modernism Tour
NTHP Modernism + Recent Past
Preservation Alliance of Minnesota
Preserve Minneapolis
Want to research your own home? The University of Minnesota Architectural Archives provides a wonderful resource on drafting a house history. This resource can be viewed at: www.lib.umn.edu/scrbm/naa/drafting

Want to browse all the modern buildings and sites Minnesota has to offer? Check out our Modern Registry. 


RESEARCH 
Northwest Architectural Archives: www.lib.umn.edu/scrbm/naa
Minnesota History Center Gale Family Library: sites.mnhs.org/library/

EXPLORE

Resources

2015 National Symposium Archive

70s Turn 50