Principal Angel Ayón helped critique the submissions and determine the winners of the ninth annual Docomomo US 2022 Modernism in America Awards.
This year’s awardees included the Walter & Sylvia Stockmayer House from 1961, which won a Residential Design Award of Excellence. Practicing “minimal design intervention,” the 2015 renovation was cited for its rare and well-preserved example of a Usonian design in Vermont. Using archival correspondence, photographs, sketches, and plans, Ayón described it as “contemporary where needed, while not falling into trendy midcentury modern redesign pitfalls.”
UMassBRUT, a multidisciplinary campaign led by contingents from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, won an Inventory/Survey Award of Excellence. Spreading awareness about the value and history of the iconic 1960’s and ‘70’s buildings within their local campuses and communities, Ayón described the effort as “exemplary and responsible stewardship of a massive educational site. “Brutalism is ugly – but they leaned into it and made a case for why it is important.”
Another winner — the SurveyLA Historic Context Statement – L.A. Modernism, 1919-1980 — received an Inventory/Survey Citation of Merit. A deep dive into the history of L.A.’s built environment, the compendium tracks the development of Prewar and Postwar styles and architectural responses to both. A model for other cities, it’s also easily accessible and written on a level for everyone to understand and enjoy. Ayón described it as “a thorough, expansive, and breathtaking resource… generously inclusive of both mundane and refined works of architecture… while not being overly academic.”