Avez-vous déjà senti le monde toucher à sa fin ? Quel serait selon vous votre premier instinct ? Cette thèse propose de regarder de plus près ce qui semble être une des réactions des plus naturelles: l’immersion dans le récit. En partant des travaux de la sociologie des mouvement sociaux conduits par Francesca Polletta, l’hypothèse de ce travail suggère que dans les contextes anxiogènes de catastrophes d’antan et d’aujourd’hui — guerrière, environnementale, ou autre — la narration joue un rôle important lors de la constitution et l’organisation de nouveaux acteurs collectifs, incitant ainsi au changement qui permettra de sortir de la crise. Si toutes formes de récit peuvent nous aider à agir ensemble, cette thèse se focalise sur la charge politique d’un genre en particulier, celui de la science-fiction. S’il faut attendre les travaux pionniers de Darko Suvin pour que le monde académique s’éveille au potentiel de cette forme de para-littérature, les nombreux projets utopiques, contre-utopiques, dystopiques, voire même apocatopiques qui jalonnent l’histoire de l’architecture montrent que les architectes ont deviné depuis longtemps le potentiel subversif du genre.Ces fictions architecturales politisées sont notre terrain de jeu: le corpus est constitué d’histoires nées sur les terres de la catastrophe, à l’aube et au crépuscule du XXe siècle tel que défini par l’historien Eric Hobsbawm — d’un côté lors de l’éclatement en 1914 de la Première Guerre mondiale et de l’autre entre 1992-1995 lors du long siège de Sarajevo. Ces deux points temporels sont reliés par des projets appartenant à la même famille politique, celle de l’anarchisme - dans son incarnation souvent appelée socialisme libertaire pacifiste — tel qu’il est compris et mis en architecture par Bruno Taut (le Glashaus, Architecture alpine, La dissolution de la ville, Le constructeur du monde, Les galoches du bonheur, Mimari Bilgisi) et Lebbeus Woods (Underground Berlin, Zagreb Free-Zone, War and Architecture). Leurs anarchitectures sont accompagnées par le travail d’écrivains engagés — des figures représentatives de la facette dite dissidente et activiste du récit de science-fiction — comme Paul Scheerbart (Rakkóx, le milliardaire, Malvu. Le Timmonier, Lesabéndio. Un roman astéroïde, L’Architecture de verre), J. G. Ballard (I.G.H.), Gheorghe Săsărman (La quadrature du cercle) et China Miéville (The City & The City). Ce périple va nous permettre d’observer, à travers une lentille architecturale, l’histoire et les transformations du genre de la science-fiction au XXe siècle, ainsi que les attitudes des architectes face au conflit.Le sujet n’est pas isolé de son contexte historique. Suivant une analyse en anti-thèse, le positionnement politique des protagonistes va s’affronter aux fictions de groupes rivaux, et notamment à celles du futurisme guerrier de F. T. Marinetti (Mafarka, le futuriste) et de l’architecte officiel de son mouvement Antonio Sant’Elia (La Città Nuova). Ces architectures post-catastrophe opposées sont accompagnées de visions du corps post-catastrophe. Ainsi, nous analyserons la manière dont nos deux camps vont instrumentaliser une des figures clefs des avant-gardes modernes : celle l’Homme nouveau. Ces corps « évolués » vont finalement nous permettre d’inscrire ces rêves sociaux, politiques, architecturaux et radicaux, dans la lignée des débats contemporains sur la place de l’Homme dans le réseau de la vie, polarisés ces jours-ci autours des concepts de l’Anthropocène de Paul Crutzen, du Capitalocène de Jason Moore et du Chthulucène de Donna Haraway. / Have you ever felt that the world was coming to an end? Do you know what one of your first instincts would be? This thesis looks closer at one of our most natural reactions: the immersion in storytelling. Leaving from Francesca Polletta’s research in the field of the sociology of social mouvements, the following pages are based on the observation that in times of catastrophe — may it be due to war, global warming or many other causes — storytelling plays an important part in the constitution and organisation of new collective actors that demand and create change, potentially contributing to an exit from crisis. If all forms of storytelling can help us act together, this thesis focuses on the political charge of a particular genre, that of science-fiction. Even if the academic world is barely starting to acknowledge the potential of this form of para-literature, the vast array of utopian, counter-utopian, dystopian, even apocatopian projets that dot the history of architecture shows that architects have long understood the subversive potential of this genre.Politicised architectural fictions will be our playing field: the corpus is made up of stories born on the realms of disaster at the dawn and dusk of the XXth century, as defined by the historian Eric Hobsbawm — starting in 1914 with the beginning of World War I and ending in 1992-1995 and the long siege of Sarajevo. These two temporal points are connected by stories and projets that belong to the same political family, that of anarchism — namely it’s pacifist branches — as it is understood and translated into architecture by Bruno Taut (The Glass Pavilion, Alpine Architecture, The Dissolution of the City, The Worldbuilder, The Galoches of Fortune, Mimari Bilgisi) and Lebbeus Woods (Underground Berlin, Zagreb Free-Zone, War and Architecture). Their anarchitectures are accompanied by the works of writers — representatives of the dissident and activist facet of science-fiction and fantasy — such as Paul Scheerbart (Rakkóx, the billionaire, Lésabendio. An asteroid novel, Malvu. The Helmsman, Glass Architecture, The Gray Cloth), J. G. Ballard (High-Rise), Gheorghe Săsărman (Squaring the Circle), as well as China Miéville (The City & The City). This overview will allow us to gauge through an architectural lens at the history and the transformations of the genre of science-fiction throughout the XXth century, as well as architecture’s changing attitudes in relation to conflict.Nonetheless, the subject is not isolated from it’s historical context. Shaped as a confrontation between two radically different visions of the future, the political positioning of our protagonists will face the fictions of rival groups, especially the pro-conflit stance of F. T. Marinetti’s futurism (Mafarka, the futurist) as well as that of the official architect of his mouvement, Antonio Sant’Elia (La Città Nuova). These fictions of a post-catastrophe architecture will translate themselves also into post-catastrophe bodies, since — in the good tradition of the modern avant-gardes — we will also reflect on the nature of the New Man they put forth. These “evolved” bodies will allow us to inscribe the radical, social, political and architectural dreams we study, witin larger contemporary debates on the place of Man in the network of life, polarised these days around the concepts of the Anthropocene of Paul Crutzen, the Capitalocene of Jason Moore and the Chthulucene of Donna Haraway.

La tesis se compone de cuatro partes. La primera tiene carácter introductivo, ofreciendo un visión general de la breve pero intensa experiencia profesional de Bruno Taut en Turquía. En particular evidencia como el acercamiento a la modernidad ejercido por Taut, bajo un punto de vista teórico y práctico, haya encontrado perfecta sintonía en el contexto cultural de la joven Republica Turca. Gracias a esta empatía Taut ganó el papel privilegiado de Experto en los debates culturales de aquellos años en el país, no sólo por la propuesta de un lenguaje arquitectónico moderno y al mismo tiempo devoto a la tradición, sino también en relación a temas diferentes como el estudio de la arquitectura tradicional y los problemas debidos a su conservación. La primera parte muestra además un catálogo descriptivo de las obras realizadas y de los textos publicados en Turquía entre el año1936 y el año 1938.La segunda parte mira a los aspectos más eterminantes de la llegada de Taut como director del Departamento de Arquitectura de la Academia de Bellas Artes de Istambul y de la Oficina de Proyectos del Ministerio de Cultura. Se juntan informaciones procedentes de otros autores, de testimonios que en parte hasta este momento habían sido secundarios, de notas del diario turco de Taut y de un documento inédito, que nos permite entender la complejidad del procedimiento burocrático en el encargo que le fue confiado.La información contenida en el documento inédito, sobretodo, tiene información sobre los primeros trabajos de la Oficina de Proyectos bajo la dirección de Taut: los proyectos para las Clínicas universitarias y el Instituto de Química de la Universidad de Istambul.La tercera parte enfoca un aspecto de la actividad de Taut en Turquía hasta ahora desconocido: su papel de experto extranjero en el programa del Ministerio de Cultura para la protección de los monumentos históricos. Gracias a un artículo dedicado a la restauración del Mausoleo Verde de Bursa (una de las restauraciones más importantes de los años treinta) en el que se habla de la implicación de Taut en el proyecto, a notas de su diario y al texto de la Relación que Taut escribió para la restauración (documento inédito recuperado en Japón), la tercera parte busca hacer luz sobre esta anómala experiencia profesional, que no se limitó solo al caso Bursa sino que le implicó en otras dos importantes restauraciones de aquellos años.La Relación sobre el Mausoleo de Bursa abre un nuevo capítulo sobre la actividad de Taut en Turquía y permite reelaborar las críticas empezando por los aspectos inéditos de sus pensamientos sobre las principales problemáticas de la restauración.La cuarta y ultima parte contiene la traducción italiana de documentos: una carta del año 1916, conservada en Ankara, escrita por Taut a un destinatario desconocido, después del viaje a Istambul, en ocasión del Concurso para la Casa de la Amistad Turco-Alelmana con anexo al texto Impresiones de viaje desde Costantinopoli; el artículo-entrevista La casa Turca, Sinan, Ankara, publicado en el número de febrero de 1938 de la revista Her Ay; la Relación sobre el restauro de la Yeþil Türbe de Bursa, escrita en 1938. / This thesis is formed by four parts. First one gives up an introductory overview. It aims to depict a general frame of Bruno Taut's both short and busy professional experience in Turkey. In detail it tries to show how transversal approach to modernity claimed by Taut quite fit the specific cultural context of young Turkish Republic. Thanks to this nearness Taut gained a privileged role of Expert alongside the cultural debate under definition in the country. This role was effective both for the diffusion of an architectonic language proposing a sinthesis between modernity and tradition and for different issues such as studies about traditional architecture and consideration about monumental heritage's preservation. This first part moreover displays a sort of descriptive catalog on realized works and published texts between 1936 and 1938.Second part aims to frame most important aspects linked with Taut's debut as head of Architecture Department in the Istanbul Fine Arts Academy and of the Culture Ministry Architectural Office. Informations from different scholars, evidences untill now ignored, Taut's turkish booknote's entries and an unpublished official document compose critic machinery that allows to focus the complexity of bureaucratic iter standed behind Taut's assignment definition. Especially the official document displays precious evidences about first works Office was kept busy with under Taut's tenure: projects for Istanbul University's Medical Clinics and Chemistry Insitute.The whole third part deals with an unknown Taut's activity side: his role as foreigner Expert alongside the Culture Ministry program for historical monuments preservation. Thanks to an article about the restoration of the Green Tomb in Bursa (one of the most important restoration works in the thirties) refering to Taut's involvement, to diary's entries and to the original Report Taut drawn up about that restoration (unpublished document recovered in Japan), this part analizes this professional experience not only focusing on Bursa case study but also taking into consideration other two restoration episodes (Ottoman Market in Ankara and a series of monuments in Edirne). The Report for Bursa's Tomb opens a new chapter on Taut's activity in Turkey and allows to redefine its critical assest moving from unusual statements Taut dealt with regarding Restoration's fundamental issues.Fourth and last part is formed by some documentary fonts. It collects italian language translation of three documents: a letter, kept in Ankara, Taut wrote in 1916 to an unknown person after the trip in Istanbul on the eve of the competition for the German-Turkish Friendship House and the text Trip's impressions from Costantinople, the interview Turkish house, Sinan, Ankara pubblished in Her Ay magazine on february 1938, the Report on Green Tomb Restoration in Bursa written in 1938.

This project is called “Searching for the Grandiose” and consequently dives into this both historical and contemporary field of architecture. With a basis in architectural history, architectural theory and popular culture the project aims to understand and create grandiose architecture.  Both built and imaginary, this area of architecture has always inspired and pushed the boundaries for the possibilities of our profession. Furthermore, in the search for the grandiose also follows a possibility of the limitless – both economically, technically and mentally. In trying to design the grandiose, the architect must loosen the chains of reality and strive for the impossible and awesome. Consequently – a vast architectural fantasy is here created on an imaginary site with no restrictions in regards to size, program or economy.