World Monuments Fund Prize goes to modernist restoration project

Associated media

2012 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize has been awarded to an architectural consortium for the restoration of Hizuchi Elementary School, one of Japan’s most representative modern buildings.

Bonnie Burnham, president of World Monuments Fund (WMF), has  announced that WMF has awarded the 2012 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize to the Architectural Consortium for Hizuchi Elementary School, for its impeccable restoration of Hizuchi Elementary School in Hizuchi, Yawatahama City, Ehime Prefecture, on Shikoku Island, Japan. Following serious damage from a 2004 typhoon, the school had been the centre of a two-year debate over whether to demolish or preserve the structure.

The WMF/Knoll Modernism Prize is the only award to acknowledge threats facing modern buildings, and to recognize the architects and designers who help ensure their rejuvenation and survival.

The biennial award will be presented at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, on 13 November 2012, by Ms Burnham; Barry Bergdoll, MoMA’s Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture & Design and chairman of the prize jury; and Andrew B. Cogan, CEO of Knoll, Inc. This will be followed by a free public lecture by the members of the Architectural Consortium.

Hizuchi Elementary School

Hizuchi Elementary School has been long admired by the Japanese architectural community for its distinctively functionalist modern design, created by the once little-known but now esteemed Japanese municipal architect Masatsune Matsumura (1913–93) and completed between 1956 and 1958. Matsumura trained under Tsuchiura Kameki, who, as a student, worked with Frank Lloyd Wright on the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo in 1921, and studied and worked in Los Angeles and at Taliesin from 1922 to 1925.

The School is an important example of cluster-style architecture with a strong modern character, most notably in its apparent lightness. It is an unusual hybrid, being a modern structure constructed primarily of wood, Japan’s traditional building material. Its notable architectural characteristics include dual-façade fenestration, which allowed natural light into classrooms throughout the day when post-war energy was in short supply. A long, glass exterior hallway runs the length of the school, connecting building functions that are separated by interior garden light-wells. Its rational spatial designs take advantage of its dramatic river-front site, including a suspended outdoor reading balcony off the school library and a dramatic floating staircase that protrudes over the Kiki River.

In 1999, DOCOMOMO identified Hizuchi Elementary School as one of the 20 most representative modern buildings in Japan. Despite this recognition, the building did not meet modern seismic protection or child-safety standards. Also, owing to the advanced deterioration of the structure over its 50-year life, Hizuchi had suffered from rain-leakage and broken windows.

The extended debate over these matters was finally resolved when a consortium of experts, working closely with the local parents group and board of education, developed a plan that would restore the structure while adapting it to meet modern safety and educational requirements.

The restoration 

Over the next three years, Hizuchi Elementary School was meticulously restored, with continuous input from the community. Original elements were re-used wherever possible (459 of 462 original pillars and over 90% of the architectural fittings were restored). However, original glass, much of which had been destroyed in the 2004 typhoon, was replaced with safety glass; paint colours were re-created through trace research; and damaged tiles were replaced with reproductions from original moulds. The building became the first post-war wooden school building in Japan to be retrofitted to protect it from seismic events. A new wing, the West Building, was constructed to meet modern classroom needs, but designed in keeping with the original wooden architecture. Classrooms were restored, and some were designed as flexible spaces, anticipating a future decline in the student population.

As a result of the above, the Hizuchi Elementary School project is believed to be the first case of an architecturally significant modern wooden building restoration in Japan, for which it won the 2012 Annual Award of the Architectural Institute of Japan. The School’s wooden construction is a reminder of the dialogue between tradition and modernity in the history of the modern movement, and is representative of the importance of the survival of certain building traditions in the post-war period. The exemplary restoration has given the structure renewed life, which can now be appreciated by national and international communities, and will hopefully raise awareness about the importance of everyday modern architecture in Japan and globally.

Ms Burnham stated:

The international community is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of modernism in the architectural record, and this year we had more nominations for the WMF/Knoll prize than ever before. The award-winning project – a humble, functional building in a small Japanese city – and the story of people coming together for its preservation – is emblematic of the important role that modern architecture can play in communities around the world.

Mr Bergdoll added:

In its review of the nominations, the jury was delighted to discover an exemplary building in the history of post-war modernist architecture in Japan as yet little known outside the country. It can now be recognized internationally as both an extremely fine building and an absolutely impeccable restoration project.

Mr Cogan said:

Knoll is pleased to maintain its leadership role in the World Monuments Fund Modernism at Risk initiative. The prize reflects our unwavering 75-year commitment to modern design, and we are especially pleased with the number and variety of nominations from around the world and the jury’s recognition of such an inspiring project.

To determine the winner of the prize, the jury reviewed some 40 nominations from 20 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, the Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Peru, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In addition to Mr Bergdoll, the jury included Jean-Louis Cohen, Sheldon H. Solow Professor in the History of Architecture at New York University; Kenneth Frampton, Ware Professor of Architecture at Columbia University; Dietrich Neumann, Royce Family Professor for the History of Modern Architecture and Urban Studies at Brown University; Theo Prudon, president of DOCOMOMO/US, architect at Prudon & Partners LLC, and adjunct associate professor of historic preservation at Columbia University; and Karen Stein, an architectural advisor, member of the faculty of the design criticism program at the School of Visual Arts, and executive director of the George Nelson Foundation.