Abstract

The Ottoman Public Debt Administration (OPDA), a multinational financial cooperation with semi-governmental privileges, was founded in 1881 following the Ottoman government’s declaration of bankruptcy. Acting within a complex inter-imperial setting, the OPDA’s headquarters constituted the center of an expansive material network engendered by debt, operationalizing a system of resource extraction across a wide economic geography. Focusing on the concept of trust underlying the financial instrument of debt, this paper considers architecture to be both a medium and a product of the logics of modern finance developed in the late nineteenth century. The building’s methodical ordering of space, modest yet specific ornamentation, and unique façade design did not simply mirror the financial activities it housed, rather it actively mobilized them to regain creditors’ trust following financial collapse. I argue that the OPDA building’s design—in its incorporation of past, “traditional” forms—materialized an ongoing process of borrowing from the future, naturalizing the debt system’s stability and thus enabling its endurance.

摘要

奥斯曼公共债务管理局 (OPDA) 是一家拥有半政府特权的跨国金融合作机构，于 1881 年在奥斯曼政府宣布破产后成立。在复杂的帝国间环境中行动，OPDA 的总部构成了由债务产生的广阔物质网络的中心，在广泛的经济地理范围内实施了一个资源开采系统。本文着眼于债务金融工具背后的信任概念，认为建筑既是一种媒介，也是十九世纪后期发展起来的现代金融逻辑的产物。这座建筑有条不紊的空间秩序、朴素而具体的装饰和独特的立面设计并不仅仅反映了它所容纳的金融活动，相反，它积极动员他们在金融崩溃后重新获得债权人的信任。我认为，OPDA 大楼的设计——结合过去的“传统”形式——实现了从未来借款的持续过程，使债务系统的稳定性自然化，从而使其能够承受。