(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021-02)
Benyoucef, Yassine Mohammed; Dionisovich, Andrey Razin
The residential architecture in the Algerian Sahara passed through several phases from the precolonial period to the current period. The precolonial period was characterized by traditional (vernacular) architecture with a compact urban fabric but, during the colonization, these communities became subject to architectural and social destruction. At the same time, the appearance of new models for architecture and cultural organization, the European way of life generated by the French colonization, triggered major architectural and urban changes. At independence, the official urban practice was to maintain continuity and relay colonial laws and architectural and urban orientations.
Today, the housing sector in the Algerian Saharan cities faces many problems. In each city, the explosion of housing is manifest as several housing types. Moreover, the inhabitants spontaneously try to transform their habitat according to their image of modernity. Methodologically, an analysis of the different demographic and socio-cultural mutations is made, moreover an architectural analysis during the main three phases starting from the precolonial period until now. This article will give an overview of the mutations and transformations of individual habitation typology in the Algerian Sahara. These mutations were multi-level, urban, architectural, and sociocultural.