The World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize 2024 goes to Argentina’s Casa sobre el Arroyo

The winner of The World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize 2024 has been announced, crowning the conservation of Argentina's Casa sobre el Arroyo (the House on the Stream) as the year's finest. The honoured body, the Ministerios de Cultura y de Obras Públicas y Municipalidad de Mar del Plata, carried out works on the historic piece of modernist architecture, which were critical in sensitively preserving the residence, designed in 1943 in playful brutalist architecture spanning across a creek. 

The World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize 2024 winner: Casa sobre el Arroyo

'We are proud to share that the conservation mission at the Casa sobre el Arroyo has become the first South American modernist project to be awarded this prize,’ said president and CEO of World Monuments Fund Bénédicte de Montlaur. ‘Argentinian modernism takes its roots from multiple schools, and the Casa sobre el Arroyo represents the lively nature of that style. Its importance as an architectural icon has made it a symbol of national pride for Argentina and the site’s conservation reestablishes the house as an integral part of Latin American heritage.'

Casa sobre el Arroyo was the former home of famed musician and composer Alberto Williams. The design was conceived by Alberto’s son, Amancio Williams, and Delfina Galvez Bunge de Williams, Amancio’s wife. 

'As the iconic first building of Amancio Williams, the Casa sobre el Arroyo exemplified its creator’s reputation as one of the most tirelessly experimental architects of the modern movement,' said Professor of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University and Chairman of the Jury Barry Bergdoll. 'It was as daring in its unadorned use of reinforced concrete for an elegant residence as it was practical in creating a sophisticated interior all on one floor suspended in the treetops and poetically bridging a stream.

'The interiors by Delfina Galvez Bunge de Williams, the architect's wife, are essential to this total art of modernist living. Long celebrated as an early landmark of modernist design in Latin America, the house has been brought back from a lamentable state of abandon and vandalization to honour the collaboration between musician, architect, and interior designer.'

The biennial prize celebrates 'architects, designers, and preservationists who have demonstrated innovative solutions to preserve or restore threatened modern architecture'. Past winners include an André Lurçat-designed school in France, and Britain's Preston Bus Station. 

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