OrteTürenArchive

OrteTürenArchive is a digital and physical archive that documents doors and entrances in everyday places (Orte) and built environments. The project treats doors as architectural elements, social spaces, and cultural symbols, recording their design, context, and use. The collection includes photographs, drawings, measurements, historical documents, and audio-visual interviews.

Geographic scope spans urban and rural settings, with emphasis on public and semipublic thresholds. Metadata covers location, date, doors' materials, architectural style, builders, and ownership. The archive also collects oral histories to contextualize doorways within local practices, mobility patterns, and social memories.

OrteTürenArchive operates as a non-profit program run by a collaborative of researchers, archivists, and artists. It maintains an online open-access database and a physical archive housed at partner institutions. Access is free or subject to standard research use policies; fairs, exhibitions, and educational programs accompany the collection.

Founded in the mid-2010s, the project has grown through partnerships with universities, museums, and urban archives. It aims to support interdisciplinary research in architecture, anthropology, and urban studies, while engaging local communities in documenting thresholds.

See also: architectural archive, urban studies, cultural heritage.