From architectural marvels to disaster zones As 2017 winds down, various cultural organizations are taking stock of important sites in the built environment that need renewed attention in the new year. Just last week, the Cultural Landscape Center released its list of open spaces under threat around the U.S., and today, the preservation-focused international non-profit World Monuments Fund published World Monument Watch 2018, its biennial list of architecture and heritage sites that need safeguarding.
This year?s list of 25 sites runs the gamut from aging architectural marvels?like two Brutalist gems, the Sirius Building in Sydney, Australia, and the Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium in Japan?to heritage sites threatened by continued armed conflict, such as the souks of Aleppo, Syria, and the Al-Hadba? Minaret in Mosul, Iraq. Perhaps the most topical addition to the list are the disaster sites in Caribbean, the Gulf, and Mexico, where a series of recent hurricanes and earthquakes have caused major destruction of infrastructure, buildings, and communities. Other U.S. sites are the Art Deco-style Buffalo Central Terminal in Buffalo, New York, which is headed for redevelopment, along with civil rights sites in Alabama, where funding for the protection and preservation of these places is at risk of being lost.

Shutterstock

NCMM/Dipo Alafiatayo

Joe Casico

HC-DAPNED

The Mendoza Building ...