From The Ridge

Algeria was colonised by France from 1830 to 1962. During this time, housing policies were used to control the territory and maintain the French domination over the “indigenous” populations. Algiers more specifically became an architectural and urbanism laboratory. In the 1950s, on the eve of the independence war, the French architect Fernand Pouillon built 3 housing estates in Algiers:

• Climat-de-France, built in 1957 for the Muslims above Bab-el-Oued in Oued Koriche (5000 apartments).

• Diar Es-Saâda, built for both Europeans and Muslims in 1953 and located above the Bay of Algiers in El Madania (735 apartments).

• Diar El Mahçoul built between 1953 and 1955, located above the bay of Algiers in El Madania (900 apartments in a section reserved to Muslims and 650 apartments in a section reserved to Europeans).

These estates are fundamentally and physically rooted in Algerian history, its colonisation and its current days. Unlike most of his peers in colonial times, Pouillon wanted to create sets of life adapted to the residents and their environment. But today, the legacy of these constructions is fading away, in front of the contemporary reality of the country.

In 2022, Algeria celebrated the 60th anniversary of its independence, inspiring the genesis of the project. With it, I aim to metaphorically question the building of our Algerian identity by (de)/(re)constructing images using several visual techniques: image stitching, juxtaposition, opacity. 

These techniques are a way, for me, to symbolize a certain post-colonial tension in Algeria. Architecture is used as a means of talking about the ongoing reconstruction of our identity, while deconstructing a heavy colonial heritage.

I aim to diffuse this project widely in order to contribute to counterweighting the western gaze on contemporary Algeria and to raise awareness locally on the importance of reclaiming and preserving these constructions as ours.