Abstract
This research is carried out with Algerian architecture students in a didactic framework which aims to demonstrate the process of defining architectural bias in the Algerian and, by extension, Mediterranean urban landscape. Many Algerian cities no longer have their character despite regional, climatic and socio-cultural particularities. The old urban fabrics are gradually transformed into precarious housing zones, concerned by a policy of resorption which disintegrates them, annihilating any historical anchoring in a style that one could qualify as Mediterranean or Algerian. It is in this environment of physical and intellectual impoverishment that we tried to understand the cognitive process that leads students to refer to this or that criterion as part of the expressionist vocabulary of Algerian architecture. Using an anchored theorizing approach, we have built up a corpus within the design learning workshop, thus resulting in a framework of formalization criteria of an architectural, spatial, colourimetric or sometimes functional order. Thus, some admit the local expression only for cultural or religious buildings while others do not conceive of an Algerian style without the presence of symbolic and often stylized or modernized artefacts, such as the trellis or the arcade. Attitudes are far from uniform and consensual.
Highlights
This research conducted with Algerian architecture students in a didactic framework which aims to demonstrate the process of defining architectural bias in the Algerian urban landscape and, by extension, the Mediterranean
The old urban fabrics are gradually transformed into areas of precarious housing, concerned by a policy of absorption which disintegrates them, annihilating any historical anchoring in a style which one could qualify as Mediterranean or Algerian
The existing urban landscape is rejected by the students in favour of an idealized vision, relating to three main references: Cultural through an Arab-Moorish style with stylized forms, Landscape through a falsified Mediterranean style and Referential through the return to an architect or a movement considered to be of reference
Summary
This research conducted with Algerian architecture students in a didactic framework which aims to demonstrate the process of defining architectural bias in the Algerian urban landscape and, by extension, the Mediterranean. Many Algerian cities have lost their cachet due to unrestrained and uncontrolled self-construction or the mass production of collective housing conditioned by standardized specifications This is done despite regional, climatic and socio-cultural particularities. The old urban fabrics are gradually transformed into areas of precarious housing, concerned by a policy of absorption which disintegrates them, annihilating any historical anchoring in a style which one could qualify as Mediterranean or Algerian. It is in this environment of physical and intellectual impoverishment that we have tried to get students to redefine the local style. The existing urban landscape is rejected by the students in favour of an idealized vision, relating to three main references: Cultural through an Arab-Moorish style with stylized forms, Landscape through a falsified Mediterranean style and Referential through the return to an architect or a movement considered to be of reference
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