A Stylistic Analysis of the Saharan French colonial architecture in southern Algeria

Nassiba Benghida (), Leila Sriti (), Asma Femmam, Sarra Saouli () and Sana Mekki ()
Additional contact information
Nassiba Benghida: Laboratory of Design and Modeling of Architectural Ambiances and Urban Forms (LACOMOFA), Department of Architecture, Mohamed Khider University of Biskra, BP 145 RP, Biskra, 07000, Algeria
Leila Sriti: Laboratory of Design and Modeling of Architectural Ambiances and Urban Forms (LACOMOFA), Department of Architecture, Mohamed Khider University of Biskra, BP 145 RP, Biskra, 07000, Algeria
Asma Femmam: Laboratory of Design and Modeling of Architectural Ambiances and Urban Forms (LACOMOFA), Department of Architecture, Mohamed Khider University of Biskra, BP 145 RP, Biskra, 07000, Algeria. asma.femmam@univ-biskra.dz
Sarra Saouli: Laboratory of Design and Modeling of Architectural Ambiances and Urban Forms (LACOMOFA), Department of Architecture, Mohamed Khider University of Biskra, BP 145 RP, Biskra, 07000, Algeria.
Sana Mekki: Laboratory of Design and Modeling of Architectural Ambiances and Urban Forms (LACOMOFA), Department of Architecture, Mohamed Khider University of Biskra, BP 145 RP, Biskra, 07000, Algeria

Technium Social Sciences Journal, 2023, vol. 39, issue 1, 574-590

Abstract: This work undertakes a study of the colonial architecture produced in southern Algeria during the 19th and 20th centuries. The comparison of the colonial architecture as it is manifested in public buildings in the north and south of the country will make it possible to grasp the specific characteristics of the architectural language developed in Saharan cities during the colonial period from 1832 to 1962. More precisely, the research endeavours to reconstruct, in a chronological manner, the conditions of production, the modalities of evolution of this architecture and the diversity of its formal attributes. To this end, a historical-analytical approach has been applied to a sample of buildings representative of the French presence in Algeria. In particular, the analysis focused on their architectural features with the intention of characterising the French imperialism formal and stylistic expressions which are rooted in eighteenth-century orientalism. The results show that the emphasis on 'indigenous' culture promoted by Governor Jonnart in the early 20th century, which was crowned by the adoption of the architectural orientalism as an official style often emanated from a concerted policy to symbolise France’s presence, power, and domination in the colonised territory. Additionally, the study highlighted the features related to the stylistic expression of the public facades through the identification of the architectural and decorative elements used in their design. Finally, it appeared that official architecture in the north was generally expressed through a single style that was successively neo-classical, art deco and neo-Moorish. In the south, however, colonial architecture was more nuanced and clearly influenced by the local Saharan context and the vernacular built environment, although the concept of vernacular architecture has been implemented just as mere rhetoric. Therefore, the colonial architecture generated in the southern territories cannot be considered as strictly imported or exogenous, as was the case for the north, but rather as the result of crossbreeding between vernacular, occidental and sub-Saharan African architectures.

Keywords: Colonial architecture; public architecture; Saharan vernacular; stylistic characterization; Algeria (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://techniumscience.com/index.php/socialsciences/article/view/8288/2999 (application/pdf)
https://techniumscience.com/index.php/socialsciences/article/view/8288 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tec:journl:v:39:y:2023:i:1:p:574-590

DOI: 10.47577/tssj.v39i1.8288

Access Statistics for this article

Technium Social Sciences Journal is currently edited by Tasente Tanase

More articles in Technium Social Sciences Journal from Technium Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tasente Tanase ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).