L'habitat moderno ad Algeri tra individuale e collettivo. Materiali per un repertorio della trasformazione

Carlo Atzeni

Co-primo

;Silvia Mocci

Co-primo

2018-01-01

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Abstract

This contribution is framed within the study of the habitats conceived in the period of the debate of the CIAM IX in 1953, period in which there is a change of thoughts with the aim of "critically" overcoming the universalising approach of the CIAM to the topic of mass-housing. The contribution analyses three habitats in Algiers (Aéro-habitat by L. Miquel, Djenan el Hasan by R. Simounet and Climat de France by F. Pouillon), and deepens the topics about the appropriation of the spaces of the living units and the daily practices and uses of the public space, considering these facts as instruments for the reconstruction of the identity of the society. The three habitats are different, but share the same essence of being interesting hybridisations between the new formal and distributive paradigms of modernity and the knowledge inherited from the local life tradition; three systems which metabolise the structural complexity of the casbah by incorporating hybrid and intermediate spaces between the collective and the individual spheres. These habitats underwent different levels of transformation, modification, through processes of spontaneous appropriation of private, public and semi-public spaces, also creating new meanings. Their metamorphosis is an appropriate metaphor for the complex, rich and dramatic comparison between the cultures on the two sides of the Mediterranean sea, anticipating many of the processes of globalisation of the third millennium. The works presented previously carry a paradigmatic value, as typological and morphological models and also as possible models of self-sustainability of the living cultures and, as a result, as new devices capable of generating new social relations and integration. The contribution systematically analyzes the spatial alteration processes of the habitats, outlining elements for a critical interpretation oriented towards the construction of a first modification repertoire.