Thanks for my published short article by "the Historic Interiors Affiliate Group of the Society of Architectural Historians" page
“ On East Coast Public Interior Spaces 1
Meral Ekincioglu, Ph.D.
SAHARA guest editor (January 2023)
The SAH-Historic Interiors Affiliate Group-Research
Committee member
‘East Coast Public Interior Spaces’ offers a visual and diverse
perspective on interior design as a part of the mission of the Society of
Architectural Historians (SAH), Historic Interiors, Affiliate Group to foster
scholarly inquiry on historic interiors and its historiography within and
beyond SAH. While the COVID-19 pandemic has been accelerated discussions on
interior design with urgent issues, such as public health considerations, climate
emergency, indoor environment quality, living conditions of underserved people,
etc., 2 inclusive and diverse scholarship
with history, theory and criticism on this discipline and its interdisciplinary
engagements with relevant fields, its teaching and pedagogy merit a
considerable attention more than ever. In this regard, it is also the time to
re-consider historical documentation practice and methods on
interior design through an intersectional understanding (of urgent pandemic
issues) and in collaboration among archivists, curators, research and teaching
communities with measurable results. 3 For
this endeavor, photography can be seen as a powerful and reliable medium in
terms of its ability to create exact visual records of interiors. With these
concerns and an emphasis on “public” dimension of (historic) interiors, these
published photographs by SAHARA aim to bring some questions into the focus: For
instance, with the rising impact of technology in our life with this pandemic,
what can be its potential(s) to design an interior space as an interface
between its (research and teaching) community and its public visitors (like the
new MIT Museum)? Or, how can we design today’s climate responsive public
interior space by reducing its use of energy while considering its physical
environment comfort for active social engagement of its users (like the
Northeastern University Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex)? Or,
how can a public interior space function for the interaction of its diverse groups
and community while maintaining its neutral and welcoming design vocabulary for
all (like the Northeastern University Center for Spirituality, Dialogue and
Service, Multi-Faith Center)?, etc.
Trained as an architect in
Istanbul, a scholar with Ph.D. in architecture his/herstory, and an active member of
the Society of Architectural Historians, my first questions
on interior
his/herstories began to rise during my early visits to
interior spaces of buildings designed by inventive architect Sinan (c. 1490-1588).4 The
COVID-19 lockdown has deeply triggered my questions on this discipline, and the
lack of data on historic interiors in the published Society
of Architectural
Historians Data Report has motivated me to put my efforts into
the mission of the SAH-Historic Interiors Affiliate Group as its Research
Committee member. 5 I wish my questions and concerns
behind this SAHARA publication could stimulate concrete actions for inclusive,
diverse and multidisciplinary documentation, data collection and new contributions
to SAHARA on historic interiors to support teaching and research communities in
the field. 6
I would like to express my thanks to Associate
Professor Paula Lupkin, founding chair of the SAH, Historic Interiors Affiliate
Group and Associate Professor Anca Lasc, its former secretary for their kind
invitation to me to serve on their Research Committee; Mark Hinchman and Jackie
Spafford, SAHARA co-editors for this publication.
References:
1. See “East Coast Public Interior Spaces” published by SAHARA, https://www.sah.org/about-sah/news/news-detail/2023/01/11/sahara-highlights-east-coast-public-interior-spaces,
last accessed on 2.9.2023.
2. For instance, see a recent book, Sparke, P., Ioannidou, E.,
Kirkham, P., Knott, S., Scholze, J., 2023, Interiors in the Era of Covid-19:
Interior Design between the Public and Private Realms, Bloomsbury Publishing,
available on February 23, 2023 https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/interiors-in-the-era-of-covid-19-penny-sparke/1141397961,
last accessed on 2.9.2023.
3. As I submitted to “the Historic Interiors, Affiliate Group”
on August 30, 2022, the first step of my systematic research on archives at
some leading interior design programs in the U.S. has revealed substantial gaps
at the intersection of historic interiors and urgent pandemic issues (such as
climate emergency, public health, social justice, underrepresented and
underserved communities, etc.).
4. See in-depth, systematic historical and theoretical analyses
of architecture buildings designed by architect Sinan with their historic
interiors, Necipoglu, G., 2005, the Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the
Ottoman Empire, Princeton University Press.
5. SAH Data Project Report, Architectural History in the United
States: Findings and Trends in Higher Education, prepared by the SAH Data Project
Core Team, 2021, Society of Architectural Historians, Chicago, IL, https://www.sah.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/sah-data-report-book-final_digital.pdf,
last accessed on 2.9.2023.
6. I also thank “SAH Archipedia” for publishing my “781”
architectural and interior photographs to support research and teaching
communities in these disciplines. See for their SAH Archipedia links; http://meralekincioglu.com/12-publication.html”