Cherchell: An Algerian Mediterranean Historical City with a Rich Islamic Heritage Housing

Abdelkader BEHIRI, Naima Chabbi-Chemrouk

Abstract


Islamic residential architecture has some common architectural and architectonic elements issued from shared values such as privacy, simplicity and sobriety. Applied to residential architecture, these values led to some characteristic spaces and architectural elements such as patios or arcs. However, the Islamic civilisation is composed by different cultures spread on a great geographical area; this variety induced different interpretations of these elements by using different building shapes or materials. In this paper, we will present an example of this interpretation in the historical coastal city of Cherchell in northern Algeria. The city of Cherchell is a historic coastal city that witnessed the passage of several civilizations before the arrival of the Islamic one since its founding more than 2500 years ago. This specific situation as historical coastal city allowed the exchange with different civilizations around the Mediterranean Sea, giving rise in the Islamic period to a typical earth architecture characterised by a specific arch’s typology. The objective of this article is to present an interpretation of Islamic heritage housing architecture in a Mediterranean historical coastal city (through two specific elements: building material and architectonic element). The long term aim of this study is the dissemination of traditional technics and know-how in order restore cultural heritage buildings and construct new projects with a strong Islamic identity.


Keywords


residential architecture; heritage; rammed earth; Mediterranean historical cities; sustainable buildings

Full Text:

PDF

References


Leveau Ph. (1984) : Caesarea de Maurétanie : une ville romaine et ses compagnes, French School in Rome, Palazzo Farnese, p. 77.

Behiri A. : Heritage Rehabilitation in Sustainable Development Policy for a Better Environment Quality in Small Historical Coastal Cities: the Case of Cherchell in Algeria. Procedia Engineering, Vol. 21, pp. 753-759, 2011.

M. Patel, Wind and Solar Power Systems. CR[1] Doat P. (1979): Construire en terre. Alternatives et parallèle, CRATerre, France, p. 13.

Pignal B. (2005) : Terre crue, techniques de construction et de restauration. Eyrolles, Paris, France, p. 34.

De Chazelles C. A. Guyonnet F.: La construction en pisé du Languedoc-Roussillon et de la Provence, du moyen-âge à l’époque moderne. In proceeding of Echanges transdisciplinaires sur les constructions en terre crue, Villefontaine (Isère), France, May 2005.

Graciani Garcia A., Tabales Rodriguez M.A. : El tapial en el area sevillana. Avance cronotipologico estructural. In Arqueologia de la arquitectura, vol. 5, pp. 135-158, january-december, 2008.

Jaquin P., Augrade C., Gerrrard C. : Historic rammed earth structures in spain, construction technique and a preliminary classification. In proceeding of the international symposium on earthen structures, Bangalore, India, August 22-24, 2007.

Correia M.:Tecnicas portuguesas de construçao em terra : a taipa alentijana. In proceeding of Seminário de Arquitectura de Terra em Portugal: Divulgação, Investigação, Contemporaneidade e Formação, Lisbon, Portugal, october, 2003.

http://www.meda-corpus.net/eng/index.asp

Alliche, S. & Chennaoui, Y. : The formalization as an identification process of a constructive way: the rammed earth of Cherchell (Algeria). Rammed Earth Conservation Editors Mileto. C, Vegas. F & Cristini. V, CRC Press/ Balkema, Taylor & Francis Group, Londres, pp.47-52, 2012.C Press, 2005.

Behiri A. (2007) : La formalisation comme processus révélant le système constructif d’un élément architectural : Cas de l’arc cherchellois. EPAU, Algiers, Algeria, p. 126.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.18860/jia.v3i3.2745

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.