Université Hadj Lakhdar -Batna1-

Institut d’architecture et d’urbanisme

Département d’architecture
Cours de Géographie de l’habitat
2ème année
Semestre quatre
Responsable de la matière:
Mme: Tebbi Hafida
Varnacular architecture
90% to 98% of the world population buildings
stock is considered to be vernacular; so it is
clear that the half of actual population lives in
vernacular dwellings,
 What’s vernacular architecture?

Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development, argreed

that "vernacular architecture, given the insights it gives into
issue of environmental adaptation, will be necessary in the
future to ensure sustainability in both cultural and economic
terms beyond the short term."
 Oliver also offers the following simple definition of
vernacular architecture: "the architecture of the people, and by
the people, but not for the people.“
 The Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World
defines vernacular architecture as:
“...comprising the dwellings and all other buildings of
the people. Related to their environmental contexts
and available resources they are customarily owned-
or community built, utilizing traditional technologies”.
All forms of vernacular architecture are built to meet
specific needs, accommodating the values, economies
andways of life of the cultures that produce
them…….”
Christopher Alexander, in his book A Pattern Language,
attempted to identify adaptive features of traditional
architecture that apply across cultures.
 Frank Lloyd Wright described vernacular architecture
as "Folk building growing in response to actual needs,
fitted into environment by people who knew no better
than to fit them with native feeling”.
Hassan Fathy in the design of the town of New Gourna
near Luxor incorporated the traditional mud brick
vaults of the Nubian settlements.
Bernard Rudofsky first used the term vernacular in an
architectural context, labeled it “vernacular,
anonymous, spontaneous, indigenous, rural, as the
case may be”.
Geoffrey Bawa is considered the pioneer of regional
modernism in South Asia. Along with him, modern
proponents of the use of the vernacular inarchitectural
design include Charles Correa, Balkrishna Doshi,
Sheila Sri
Prakash, Indian architects and Muzharul Islam and
Bashirul Haq, internationally known Bangladeshi
architects.
These architects have used vernacular architecture and
get inspired for a new innovations in environmental
and socioeconomically sustainable design and
planning.
 Vernacular term
Term vernacular is devided from latin word vrnaculus
(domestic, native, indigenous),
For thousands years poeple tried to adapt their environment
by creating new techniques and solutions whitch create or
give a suitable climate cinditions inside homes, especially in
hot and dry climate places, by the transformation of solar
radiations and wind into energy resources,
And developped an architectural solutions using wisely a
local materials combined with physical social and beauty
functionality,
 an indigenous architecture is made in a specific time
or place (not imported or copied from elsewhere).
It is most often used applied in residential
Buildings,

It refers to those buildings made by common builders in an

informal way, rather than by architects using design
methodologies.
Vernacular architecture is influenced by a great range of
different aspects of human behaviour and environment,leading
to differing building forms for almost every different context;
even neighbouring villages may have subtly different
approaches to the construction and use of their dwellings with
significant similarities in structural forms.
 Factors influencing vernacular architecture
 Climatic and geological environment
 Local materials used
 Technology adopted
Housing in vernacular architecture
m’zab case
Situation:
The Mzab; a desert region in the center of southern Algeria. Located 600 km from the
capital Algiers. Characterized by a dry and cold climate in winter and dry and hot in
summer, with
the scarcity of drinking water resources, life became more and more difficult. Between
the altitude
300 and 800m, it is located north of the Hamada plateau, between 32 ° and 33 ° 20 °
latitude
North and 2 ° 30 ° East longitude (B. Benyoucef, 1992). This region is also called the
pentapole, called in Arabic Chebka; "Net", because of its configuration dominated by
ravines between overlapping rocky valleys (B. Benyoucef, 1992). It brings together a
set of villages which are: Atteuf, Ghardaia, Beniezguen, Mélika, Bounoura, which
spreads
20km long and 2km wide. In addition to the pentapolis, it also occupies the two ksour
de Berriane and de Guerrara located respectively 50km to the north and 120km to the
northeast.
The seven villages or ksour of the pentapole was created over time with its
different events.
• The influence of social organization on the urban form is evident
• in M'zab. Following the examples set by the early Muslim
communities,
• Construction of the house was carefully oriented toward east
and south so as not to cast shade on an immediate neighbor.
It was not permitted for anyone to be able to see inside his
neighbor's house from outside openings or from the roof.
Passers-by were not permitted to view into private spaces of
the home. According to this custom, windows were usually
located above eye level and kept very small. Exterior doors
did not face each other and the doorway was designed so that
each house had a bent entrance with two doors that prevented
a direct view to the inside from the street.
3. The roof tops were surrounded by parapet walls to ensure
• privacy between one house roof and another.
The traditional house in M'zab consists of four different areas:
ground and entry floor, upper floor, roof terraces, and basement. The
ground floor contains the main spaces in the M'zabite house: the entry,
central room (courtyard), family living room, kitchen, and multipurpose
rooms. The central courtyard is used for family interaction, children's
play area, and a place for weddings and festival activities. It is also
used as a multipurpose room for daily activities such as sleeping, cooking,
eating, weaving, meeting, sitting, and children's play. The family
living room is used mainly for family activities or for receiving female
guests. It is used for family activities such as weaving, sitting, praying,
sleeping, and eating. The multipurpose chambers are used by
parents and children for sleeping, as well as for storage and animals.
The upper floor contains male guest rooms, bedrooms, storage
rooms, and other multipurpose chambers. Usually, this floor is reached
by covered stairs and is connected to a neighbor's house by a wall
opening and is used for women's activities and circulation.
The roof terraces contain many spaces divided by partitions for
various summer family activities such as sitting and sleeping. They are
always reached by open stairs.
Underground floor spaces also contain main family spaces used
in the summer during the day for such activities as sitting and sleeping
Mzabite Heritage in Southern Algeria: What Bioclimatic Lessons can Be
Learned to Optimize Thermal Comfort?
Amina Bensayah , Hamida Bencheikh2 and Amina Abdessemed