Reflecting on 2025: A Landmark Year for Docomomo US/NOCA
On a cloudy May day in 2025, as an onshore breeze threaded its way through Embarcadero Center, people gathered at Embarcadero Plaza to hear Armand Vaillancourt discuss his eponymous fountain. It looked like a picnic, with blankets, cameras, snacks, and friends. But everyone there shared a belief: this debated and cherished corner of San Francisco’s modern landscape should be preserved for the future.
Photo by Miia Ranta 2011 CC BY-SA 2.0
A year defined by advocacy
For Docomomo US/Northern California, 2025 will be remembered as the year the Vaillancourt Fountain became a rallying point and a focus for our work. The Embarcadero Plaza & Sue Bierman Park Renovation Project challenged us: how do you make a strong case for a historic public plaza from the 1970s when the arguments for its removal are focused on current social and economic trends including downtown commercial and office vacancy, homelessness, and declining foot traffic?
We found inspiration in our mission statement, “protection of the architecture, landscape, and urban design of the Modern Movement.” Putting action to words:
We attended community meetings to ensure the fountain and plaza were seen, respectively, as art and a historic public gathering place with real social history.
We spoke at and attended six public hearings, including at the Arts Commission, Recreation and Park Commission, and Board of Supervisors. Even when some people were unsure, we kept sharing the same message: modern public spaces are part of the city’s cultural memory.
We built and maintained a coalition of international, national, and local partner organizations and individuals, which grew to include 13 organizations that signed a joint letter submitted to city decision-makers. Each group brought its own perspective and approach to discussing the project.
We held a picnic at Embarcadero Plaza to welcome sculptor Armand Vaillancourt and his family during their trip to San Francisco. As a rare treat, Mr. Vaillancourt regaled attendees about his experience designing and creating the landmark Vaillancourt Fountain.
What started as a disagreement over the future of Embarcadero Plaza and the Vaillancourt Fountain became a broader discussion about who decides what is ‘obsolete’ and how we can preserve our unique history while keeping public places active and open to everyone.
“What started as a disagreement over the future of Embarcadero Plaza and the Vaillancourt Fountain became a broader discussion about who decides what is ‘obsolete’ and how we can preserve our unique history while keeping public places active and open to everyone.”
Modernism in motion: tours as stories
2025 was also a year of preservation and education, with a focus on the East Bay. In April, the Havens House Tour and Fundraiser offered an intimate look at an iconic home in the Berkeley hills. Guests visited a classic 1941 Bay Region modern masterpiece and saw firsthand how sunlight, wood, and the hillside shaped its design, which still feels fresh today. 100 percent of ticket sales, along with generous financial gifts from our members, were donated to the direct maintenance and preservation of the Havens House.
In October, the chapter returned to Berkeley for Docomomo Tour Day to explore 'Sacred Spaces of Berkeley.' Led by architect Chad DeWitt, participants visited early Bay Region churches and Brutalist sanctuaries, all within walking distance of campus. Inside these spaces, whether small or grand, visitors could sense how architects and congregations used light, space, and materials to create new ways to build community and foster spirituality after World War II.
Camilla Baum led a tour of Roger Lee’s multi-unit housing projects in Berkeley, a natural follow-up to her tour of Lee’s celebrated single-family homes the previous year. We look forward to further exploring Lee’s important contributions to Bay Area architecture this year, and you can learn more about him on our website.
To wrap up the year and say thank you and happy holidays to many longtime members, friends, and guests, we hosted a holiday gathering at a Modernist gem in Point Richmond with a sweeping view of the historic waterfront.
Other accomplishments this year included outreach and participation in the AIA-hosted film screening series, where we found new members and valued supporters among the enthusiastic filmgoers.
Supporting the next generation
If the Vaillancourt Fountain symbolized the urgency of preservation in 2025, the chapter’s annual travel grant symbolized its long view. The 2025 Docomomo US/NOCA Symposium Travel Grant went to Luke Leuschner, who will travel to Los Angeles in March 2026 for the 19th International Docomomo Conference, “Multiple Moderns: Climate, Community, Creativity.”
The grant is more than just travel money. It shows that the future of Northern California’s Modern heritage relies on people who can connect local stories to global conversations about climate, equity, and city life. When Luke returns from the conference, he will share his experience with NOCA members.
Looking toward our 30th birthday
As 2025 ended, the chapter began planning for 2026, which will mark Docomomo US/NOCA’s 30th anniversary. Celebrations will include more tours and exploration of this year’s Docomomo-US Theme “Recreation and Play.”
All these plans reflect a lesson from 2025: education and preservation thrive when shared with a community that cares about the Modernist Movement and its contributions to our mid-twentieth-century modernist heritage. Whether picnicking at a historic plaza and fountain, on a walking tour, in a crowded hearing, or during a holiday celebration, this year was more than a list of achievements; it was a reminder that modernism in Northern California is vibrant, and Docomomo US/NOCA’s job is to keep the conversation and these places alive.