Laayoune, Sidi Ifni and Dakhla: Ramón Estalella's modernist projects in Spanish West Africa, 1961–1969

Abstract

When the European metropolises were on the tortuous path to decolonialization in a complex relationship of power and culture, Spain, a country whose colonial interests in Africa had never been on the scale of those of other European countries, made one last attempt to control the territory with an administrative change, embarking on ambitious urban planning processes and new forms of social housing through a modern architecture which took into consideration the contemporary discourse present in the rest of the continent at the time. Specifically, from 1961 onwards, the National Institute of Housing executed several projects; this paper examines those directed by the architect Ramón Estalella y Mansó de Zúñiga in the city of Sidi Ifni (Morocco) and the two most important cities of Western Sahara, Laayoune and Dakhla. The complex power relationships, the political atmosphere and cultural interferences prompted a series of projects which attempted to provide unique and exceptionally creative urban and architectural solutions.