Abstract
Cultural heritage evolves through an ongoing discourse on what, how, and why to preserve, spanning from the cataloging of artifacts in the Early Modern Period to the emergence of National Heritage in the nineteenth century and World Heritage in the twentieth century. Recent discussions in cultural heritage have focused on: (a) historically changing value systems and political-economic dimensions of sites; (b) critical questions of authenticity; and (c) the selection of what to preserve as a key force affecting both constructed environments and identity constructions, especially in contested spaces. The work presented in this paper suggests that a constructive approach to mediating discussions of cultural heritage in contested spaces—regardless of the political climate or identity politics—is to ground the assessment of authenticity in formal analysis, viewed through a new materialist perspective. In support, a case study on the authenticity of Ottoman-Turkish houses in Istanbul is given. The corpus of the study consists of the nine traditional Ottoman-Turkish houses originally from the nineteenth century, located between Topkapı Palace and Hagia Sophia on Soğukçeşme Street. More specifically, the shape grammar formalism is employed to analyze and synthesize the compositional logic and proportional ideas embodied in the designs of these houses. Drawing on Jane Bennett’s new materialist perspective, which grants agency to the landscape to offer alternative political solutions to climate change, the work suggests that the use of formal analysis as a starting point for discussions of authenticity can empower heritage sites with political agency.
Presenters
Ezgi BalkanayAssistant Professor, School of Architecture, College of Arts and Architecture, Montana State University, Montana, United States James Park
Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, Montana State University, Montana, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Cultural heritage, Formal analysis, Authenticity, Ottoman-Turkish houses, New materialism
