Documentation of architecture : photography as an objective tool?

Download

index.pdf

Date

2009

Author

Coşkun, Esatcan

Metadata

Show full item record

Item Usage Stats

447
views

194
downloads

Since its invention, photography has been accepted as a reliable tool for achitecture in terms of its power for creating objective documents of the built-form. The aim of this study, is to question the so-called objectivity and reliability of the photographic representations of the buildings by showing how architectural photography emerges also with an artistic and purely aesthetic character rather than being a mere tool of objective documentation. Taking this formal emphasis on architectural subject as a basis, a broader focus will be given to the photogenic character of the images used in architectural publications. Instead of reflecting real spatial experience, these idealized photographs are used in a given context to constitute a fiction that alters the viewer's understanding of the architectural subject. Therefore, the main question is not whether architectural photography is an objective tool of documentation which is capable to represent architecture as it really is or it is a category of purely artistic activity; it is about how photography alters our vision about architecture and constructs new ideas for architectural discourse. By taking Tabanlioglu Architects' Dogan Media Center building in Ankara as a key study, this thesis aims to focus this alteration and question the potentials of architectural photography.

Subject Keywords

Architecture.

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12611407/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/19395

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

Intersections: architecture and photography in Victorian Britain Acar, Sibel; Enginsoy Ekinci, Ayşe Sevil; Department of History of Architecture (2009) Architecture and photography have always been closely interacted since the invention of photography in the late 1830s.While architecture has been captured as one of the main subjects of photography, photography has served architecture as a valuable tool of representation. Focusing on the frame defined by Victorian Britain, this study tries to capture intersecting histories between photography and architecture. Accordingly three intersections were defined: the first intersection corresponds to the simultaneo...
Authentication of space: the photograph as a raw material for architectural production Koca, Aslı; Savaş Sargın, Ayşen; Department of Architecture (2009) This thesis is a critical reconsideration of the relationship of architectural production with its unique mode of representation: “photography.” Photography has been interpreted essentially as a technique and a visual medium to document architecture in general. The “photograph,” in this sense, is regarded as a representational form of documentation and an artistic and material expression of architecture. Besides this conventional value, this study argues that photography not only provides a new medium for t...
Analysis of the limits of representation of architectural photographic images in periodicals Bakht, Nazlı; Güzer, Celal Abdi; Department of Architecture (2007) This study aims to analyze the limits of representation of architectural photographic images in periodicals within architectural media that shape today’s architectural production. This aim is accomplished in three sections; “examining the power of image in architecture”; “examining architectural media” and “examining the periodicals’ attitudes towards using architectural photography”. A case study is done to uncover the relationship between the photograph and the medium that it takes place on and determine ...
Photograph as an architectural document : a visual archive for METU Campus Akyol, Melike; Savaş Sargın, Ayşen; Department of Architecture (2012) This thesis aims at providing a pragmatic and conceptual basis essential for the establishment of an architectural photography archive for METU. The goal is to propose a methodology regarding the formation of an archive, which is physically and intellectually “accessible,” and to inquire future possibilities for its extension. The conceptual framework will be established by focusing on two main topics: theories of art, specifically focusing on photograph as a visual document, and architectural history writi...
The cognitive aspects of model-making in architectural design Gürsoy, Benay; Özkar, Mine; Department of Architecture (2010) Considerable research has been done by various scholars to assess the significance of sketching in the early stages of the design process. However, sketching in design studies usually corresponds to drawing and the extensive research on the cognitive aspects of sketching does not always include three-dimensional sketching through physical and digital models produced in the early phases of design process. The aim of the presented research is to identify some characteristics of model-making that make it effec...

Citation Formats

E. Coşkun, “Documentation of architecture : photography as an objective tool?,” M.Arch. - Master of Architecture, Middle East Technical University, 2009.