Agence Christiane Schmuckle-Mollard was revealed today as the recipient of the 2018 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize for their outstanding preservation work on the modernist Karl Marx School in Villejuif, France. And for the first time in the prize's 10-year history, a special mention was awarded to Harboe Architects for the preservation of Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois.

2018 WMF/Knoll Modernism Prize recipient: Agence Christiane Schmuckle-Mollard for the preservation of the Karl Marx School in Villejuif, France, designed by André Lurçat. 
2018 WMF/Knoll Modernism Prize recipient: Agence Christiane Schmuckle-Mollard for the preservation of the Karl Marx School in Villejuif, France, designed by André Lurçat.  © World Monuments Fund

Designed and constructed by French architect André Lurçat, the Karl Marx School was described as “the most beautiful school in France” when it was inaugurated in 1933. The building's design was based on functionalist principles that prioritized logic and simple forms. By the 1990s, the building was still being used but had been poorly maintained. The school was then listed as a French National Historical Monument in 1996, which brought in resources for its restoration. 

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