Two Northern California Projects Recognized in the 2026 Modernism in America Awards
Docomomo US has announced the recipients of its 2026 Modernism in America Awards, the organization’s national program honoring exemplary work in the preservation, rehabilitation, documentation, and advocacy of modern architecture and design. This year’s awards recognize projects that show how preservation can support affordability, environmental performance, adaptive reuse, and public life rather than stand in the way of change.
Among the 2026 honorees are two Northern California projects: the Gregory Bateson Building in Sacramento and Hangar One at Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View. Their recognition highlights the range of Northern California’s modern legacy, from a pioneering state office building rooted in sustainable design to one of the region’s most iconic engineering landmarks.
Gregory Bateson Building, Sacramento
Atrium of the Gregory Bateson Building, Sacramento, CA, State Architect Sim van der Ryn and Peter Calthorpe with State Architect Barry Wasserman, 1981. Photo courtesy of CannonDesign, Laura Peters Image.
The Gregory Bateson Building received a Civic/Institutional Design Award of Excellence for the rehabilitation of the 1981 state office building originally designed by State Architect Sim van der Ryn and Peter Calthorpe, with State Architect Barry Wasserman. The project honors a landmark of sustainable architecture whose original design pioneered low-energy office planning through passive cooling, natural ventilation, and night-flushing strategies.
According to the award citation, the modernization preserved and renewed the building's defining features while substantially improving its performance. The project retained visible evidence of the building’s environmental design heritage, including original fabric air-distribution tubes, while rehabilitating materials, improving the envelope, and achieving LEED Platinum performance through electrification, reduced energy and water use, and other long-term decarbonization measures.
Hangar One, Mountain View
Hangar One at Moffett Federal Airfield, Mountain View, CA, in 2025, view east from Shenandoah Plaza. Photo courtesy of Sam Burbank.
Hangar One received a Civic/Institutional Design Citation of Merit for its rehabilitation at Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View. The award recognizes the careful restoration of one of the nation’s most significant large-span industrial structures, originally designed by U.S. Navy engineers to house the airship USS Macon.
The citation emphasizes both the scale of the technical challenge and the rigor of the preservation process. After decades of underuse and hazardous-material abatement left the building stripped to its steel frame, the rehabilitation returned Hangar One to its historic appearance with new cladding, roofing, and windows matching the original profiles, while integrating structural upgrades, insulation, infrastructure, and passive ventilation with minimal visual impact. The project also successfully navigated extensive federal and state review under NEPA, CEQA, and Section 106, demonstrating that preservation compliance and advanced engineering can work hand in hand.
Together, these two projects demonstrate the strength and breadth of modern preservation practice in Northern California. From the renewal of an early energy-conscious civic building to the rehabilitation of an internationally recognized airship hangar, both projects show how thoughtful intervention can extend the life of significant modern places while sustaining their architectural identity.
2026 Modernism in America Awards Ceremony
Congratulations to the winners of the 2026 Modernism in America Awards. Join us on Thursday, November 5, for a celebratory evening honoring these 15 deserving projects at the Design Within Reach 3rd Avenue showroom. Dress is festive business attire.
Members: $150 | Non-members: $175
Thursday, November 5, 6–9pm
Drinks, light bites, conversation, and live music begin at 6 pm; presentation at 7 pm.
Location
Design Within Reach, 957 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022