Documentation of architecture : photography as an objective tool?

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2009

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Coşkun, Esatcan

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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.

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

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Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis

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Citation Formats

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