Between Theories and Practices in the Conservation of Modern Heritage

The status of modernity has always been challenging for the theories of restoration. Restoring what is modern/contemporary sounds like a contradiction in terms. The modernity of the 20th century is even more provocative, because of its uncertain historicity in the accelerated time of the last century, because of its fragility and because of its intangible connection with the aspirations and the utopias generating architecture, combined with the very tangible presence of the authors themselves. Nowadays, after more than 30 years of studies on the legacy of modernism, and after many real restoration experiences, the conservation of modernist buildings can no longer be considered neither exceptional nor experimental.