Notas de un proyecto de archivo: la construcción del archivo privado de un arquitecto en Turquía (original) (raw)

2020, Bitácora arquitectura

Introduction To live, as Walter Benjamin said, "means to leave traces." 1 However, one's approach to the traces left behind may differ from person to person. By analyzing modern architecture's relationship with the mass media through two important figures of twentieth century modern architecture, Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier, Beatriz Colomina revealed the architects' different approaches in her book Privacy and Publicity: Modern Architecture as Mass Media. The first chapter of the book, "Archive," opens with a comparison between Loos, who seems to have not left many traces behind, and Le Corbusier, who collected far too many. Thus, the materials in the architects' archives also define the research conducted on them: "If the research into Loos is organized according to gaps in the archive, the research into Le Corbusier is organized by archival excesses." 2 Considering this issue in the context of the relationship between the archive and architectural historiography, both lead to the same result: "If Loos destroys all traces and Le Corbusier accumulates too many, both hide." 3 When it comes to the archive, there is no absolute truth in historiography. The writing of history is a search for truth. There is no single path to truth, there are only possible readings and interpretations of the archive, which is a place where "the professional historian is a reader." 4 In the early 1990s, it was the archival turn that opened up the role of the archive to discussion as a source of information that also preserves historical truth. Since then, it has been noted that "archival materials did not only tell one 'story' but could be interpreted in different ways depending on the audience." 5 As such, an archive gains meaning depending on its context, time, archivist and researchers. The archive is not static, but rather dynamic, flexible and mobile. Although the role of the archive is questioned in historiography, archives help us remember the past and keep traces of the past alive. As for architectural history, Dana Arnold claims, "The past does leave traces of itself in the present in the form of archives, whether they be documents, institutions or indeed buildings. " 6 In short, in terms of historical sources, architecture has two modes: built architecture and documented architecture. 7 However, if one considers the primary pictorial and literary evidence for the architecture of the past, what determines whether documents are worth keeping is, initially, the architect' s point of view. Wigley suggests that "it is not even possible to imagine the act of design without thinking of the archiving gesture. " 8 Nevertheless, architects in Turkey, for instance, do