How to Preserve and Research Private Archives of the Architects. Case of the Konsulovs Family Legacy

Usually, architects are mentioned when their visible and implemented projects are assessed, while a huge part of the work they have done throughout their careers (and written in paper) remains unnoticed. Professional practices are a much more complicated process than the design only. It also implies the networking (especially, private) to develop sociocultural links in the city and beyond, in addition to working with drawings and design materials. It could be possible to comprehend an architect as an integral professional and a personality through his or her private archives, preserved and available.

In addition to the implemented projects such as the Dniester Hotel and the Lviv Hotel, the Suputnyk Restaurant in Stryiskyi Park, a student canteen at the Academy of Arts, residential houses, etc., Konsulov left behind an immense archive. It’s has been digitalized and arranged by the Urban Media Archive and the architect’s grand-daughter Kateryna Konsulova for almost two years now. Dozens of thousands of documents tell about professional and private life of the architect. They include working designs, drafts, drawings, samples of industrial design, photographs, and even the paintings.

The presentation of the earliest outcomes of Anatoliy Konsulov’s legacy will invite Kateryna Konsulova, Oleksandr Makhanets, Natalia Otrishchenko, Natalia Mysak who are going to talk about the experience of preserving the author’s documents, challenges and issues in dealing with the materials, their value and capacity, as well as relevance and future of architects’ archives in general.

The meeting is a continuation of a series of public events within the exhibition "Phototecture of Modernism". The event is a part of [unarchiving] program of Urban Media Archive.

Credits

Сover Image: Anatoliy Konsulov in the workroom. Collection of Kateryna Konsulova

Image Gallery by Iryna Sereda