Archiprix International 2001
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, A. Alfred College of Architecture and Urban Planning - Ann Arbor, United States
Sadashiv S. Mallya
Tutors: Glen Wilcox, Tod Williams, Billie Tsien
Housing the Manning Brothers Photographic Collection in DetroitThe need to bring things spatially and humanly 'nearer' is almost an obsession today, as is the tendency to negate the unique or ephermal quality of a given event by reproducing it photographically. There is an ever-growing compulsion to reproduce the object photographically , in close-up -Walter Benjamin In modern society, a discontent with reality expresses itself forcefully and most hauntingly by the longing to reproduce this one. As if only by looking at reality in the form of an object - through the fix of the photograph - is it really real , that is surreal. - Susan Sontag Twin brothers William H and John J Manning established Manning commercial photographers in 1906. From the turn of the century through the 1970’s their studio was based in Detroit. Throughout the time the brothers documented the city creating a visual record of the changes that occurred throughout the 20th century. The collection now surpasses 250000 images, from Detroit’s skyscrapers to 'Mom and Pop' grocery stores, virtually every office building, theater, private club, store and major industry in the City of Detroit is captured in the Manning Photographs. In addition to the buildings and the street scenes, commodities and objects of the city from toys to trolley cars are part of this documentation. Each image is fastidiously numbered and cataloged, the bulk of which is stored on its original 8x10 glass negative. What is striking about the Manning photographs is their representation of a city that at once is and is no more and the mystery that surrounds this condition. The collection is surreal in that it is a city embedded within a city it represents. The heir to the collection, Bud Manning, took great care to ensure it would remain in Detroit by selling it to Charles Forbes a land owner recognized for his commitment to historical preservation. At present the collection is hidden away in the backroom on the 9th floor of an obscure office building. Only a fraction of the photographs have been printed. An even smaller fraction of it is published. Nothing has been published specifically about the collection or the brothers. Access to the entire collection is limited. It exists to a certain degree in obscurity - one gets glimpses - hints of its vastness. There is a three volume master index in which the number of each photograph is written along with its date and location and a brief description. This index, of course, is locked away in a safe. Neatly numbered and stacked the collection comprises a library of seeing Detroit. The images testify to what Roland Barthes has called a 'having been there.' More than exercises in nostalgia and aesthetics aiming t abolish the distance between the past and present, they instead ratify the existence of what was. The brothers were commercial photographers and we know for a fact that the majority of the collection was taken for insurance purposes. Originally intended as an insurance against loss in the case of fire or another unforeseen tragedy. Ironically, located in Detroit, the photographs suggest a trauma - the pain associated with mourning and loss. The Manning Collection has the feeling of a fable or myth. To simply disclose it would destroy its power. The fact that one must pass through the city to see it is a significant part of its experience. There is a strange connection between the city and the collection. One is part of the experience of the other. One is the estranged twin of the other. The project is to house the Manning Brother Photographic collection. The intention is to deal specifically with the phenomenon of documenting the city through photography speculating architecturally on the mystery of this collection and its relation to the city.