مختارات من عمارة العالم العربي 1914-2014 (ص 44)

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مختارات من عمارة العالم العربي 1914-2014 (ص 44)

المحتوى

55
هم
[pert pete
Post-War Reconstruction
The genius of the times — none other maybe than the genius loci
~ saw the establishment of an architecture studio dedicated to
reconstruction, the Perchoir, named for its location directly above
the Dar el Bey kitchens. In its midst, the future great names of the
profession would breathe life back into a dormant architectural style.
Arabisance would become the architectural style of the reconstruc-
tion and the experimental ground for a “deep thought about the use
of the principles of vernacular architectural tradition”. Traditional
masonry building, Catalan vaulted roofs, brick-wall screens, and the
overall simple volume of the Tunisian Sahel construction systems,
would be explored, reducing thus the reliance on concrete and steel
which were in short supply at the time.
The Perchoir experiment would not last more than a few years; it
preceded the coming of modernity represented by the international
style at the service of a new and now independent State. Tunisian
architects took over, following up on the questions of the architects
who had preceded them, namely regarding the integration of local
decorative arts and the rewriting of traditional forms. The questions,
approached differently in private or public architectural commissions,
yielded mixed results. The issue of the survival of the Arabisance
and of its application was more than ever at the heart of architects’
discussions, who were in the process of rediscovering and exploring
a style which had been held up as a highly successful medel. Its suc-
cess was such that “nowadays, many believe that this French-Arab
architecture is a traditional Islamic-Arab one”.
After Independence
International style architecture had very little followers. Although the
architectural modernity of the period after independence was to a
certain extent accepted as a vector of the orientation that the “New
Tunisia” government had taken, it was nonetheless questioned and
rethought time and time again through a constant discussion of local
know-how and traditions. This phase of intelligent dialogue survived
for only one decade, and was replaced by a much less harmonious
approach constituting heavy renovations of historical centers and
partisan urbanism dedicated to the glorification of state power. The
issue of the fate of historical centers resulted in 1967 in the establish-
ment of the Association de Sauvegarde de la Medina (ASM) of Tunis,
a preservation body whose scope of intervention would go beyond
the Medina to include the new city and its recent heritage of the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
In parallel, Western architecture was simply copied, and the local
repertoire only used as cladding in order to ‘Tunisify’ the buildings
without any real tackling of the issues of adequacy underlying this
hybrid style and the construction technologies in use, despite the fact
that solutions were at hand and had been successfully implemented
In the past. The architect Bernard Huet would thus go on to highlight
the importance of rediscovering the inaugural work of the Perchoir:
“tn the midst of the present extravagant conundrunt of Retro, Neo
and Post-Modern styles, and at a time when architecture indulges
in an increasingly fast, and panicked consumption of fashion trends,
it is useful to learn the lessons of calmness, reason and silence that
Tunisian architecture from 1943 to 1955 offers”.
More than ever, Tunisia remains this great laboratory of archi-
tectural combination and creation in constant renewal, where the
exploration of the past and recent heritage offers a vital source
of inspiration.
Mauritania
A. Kassou
The colonization process of this part of the Maghreb began in the
nineteenth century. Based in Senegal, the French took advantage
of the strife between the many relatively autonomous tribal entities,
and submitted them to French rule thereby achieving the unity of
the French Empire from Algeria to Western Africa. In the 1920s, the
region became an entity within the framework of French West Africa,
whose capital was for a long time Senegal’s Saint-Louis. Apart from
historical cities like Chingetti, and a few compounds surrounding
mining operations, there was no significant large city in this part of
the Maghreb at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Constituted of a large underpopulated territory, the country that
obtained independence in 1960 witnessed very slow urban develop-
ment in comparison with the other countries of the Maghreb.
The capital city, Nouakchott, had for example less than 400,000
inhabitants in the 1980s and currently has less than 800,000.
Nouadibou, the second largest city, has less than 100,000 inhabitants.
Nouakchott was created from scratch at the end of the 1950s to
house the Mauritanian government (which was based prior to that in
Saint-Louis) in a region that was chosen precisely because no single
tribe would be able to claim it. Official buildings for the different
ministries were therefore erected, in addition to an airport, and since
then, the city has developed in the middle of the desert.
Among the remarkable projects in the country in recent times
is the Regional Hospital in Kaédi, near the border with Senegal,
designed by Fabrizio Carola in 1989. More than the mere provision
of a much-needed facility, the project was an opportunity to empower
the rural population and contribute to developing local building skills
in response to scarce means. Entirely built using hand-made bricks
fired in kilns, the facility develops like a stem, producing clusters of
vaulted passage-ways and domed rooms. The project received the
Aga Khan award in 1995.

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مختارات من عمارة العالم العربي 1914-2014

تاريخ

2014

المنشئ

جورج عربيد