La « petite musique de fond de l’architecture » : approche critique des sources d’archives du xxe siècle en région

Abstract

We draw on examples of public and private records of architectures in regional areas, mostly produced in the second half of the 20th century, monographs of famous architects excluded, to determine how territorial archives can, through their collection and exploitation, contribute to the value of the buildings. These architectures reflect the development of contemporary society and the challenges that present themselves, within the framework of the implementation of the “sites patrimoniaux remarquables”, Outstanding Heritage Sites (LCAP law, 2016), or other issues such as the mutation of the architect’s profession, the heritage consciousness among citizens, the change in relation to ownership of an immovable property, the demolitions of 20th century heritage, or climate emergency. To find out what criteria of value may be carried by the public archives of contractors and the private archives of architects, we will therefore tackle the question of the critical analysis of public contractors’ archives to situate 20th century heritage, and that of the intrinsic characteristics of architects’ archives in order to identify the values. We will also address the issue of a heritage awareness among the general public and in the future architects, through the access and use of these two kinds of archives. The legal value of the archives constitutes the background. But it is not the dominant criterion for assessing the value of the preserved heritage and it is that link which seems promising. Other values spur us on to the selective collection of the private archive fonds of architects, in a chain of actions for public interests, from study to conservation, to transformation and educational use of heritage knowledge.

Keywords

• archives of architects
• contracting authority
• critical account
• territorial narrative