Archinect - News

An Open Letter to Jean Nouvel

2018-12-21T15:15:00-05:00

All architects must be fully responsible for the political conditions and consequences of the projects they accept; any position that would make them only an executant constitutes an insult to their function and their ability to act.

"This Monday, we were many in Algeria, in France, and elsewhere to be shocked when we learned that the Wilaya (prefecture) of Algiers had signed a convention with the region of Île-de-France (Paris’ region) whose President is a conservative Republican politician, and French architect Jean Nouvel to “revitalize” Algiers’ Casbah. The Casbah before being a UNESCO world heritage site is one of the most important sites of the anti-colonial history, as well as the home of thousands of residents who had no say in this decision. Three of us decided to write an open letter to him, asking him to renounce this commission, as part of what we believe is our strategy and our legitimacy (only one of us is from Algiers) from the Northern side of the Mediterranean Sea — we leave it to Algerians to form their own strategy against the Wilaya’s decision if they decide to do s,o and we will bring them the support they will ask from us in that case. 410 people all around the world (including from the Cas...

Back to the Future in Algeria

2014-01-12T20:59:00-05:00

“We’re not used to seeing this shape in our country...We haven’t anything like this in Algeria. It’s very beautiful. It’s like a bird.” - Mekki Damerdji, an architect and professor in Algiers

Julie Bosman highlighted the work of Jason Oddy who has photographed some of the lesser known projects of Oscar Niemeyer. Niemeyer, a Communist who fled to France following the military takeover of Brazil in 1964, designed 12 buildings in Algeria in the late 1960s although only 4 have been built to date.

ARPT Headquarters in Algiers by Mario Cucinella Architects

2013-07-02T14:28:00-04:00

Italian firm Mario Cucinella Architects has won the international competition for the design of the new headquarters of telecommunications agency ARPT (Autorité de Régulation de la Poste et des Télécommunications) in Algeria's capital city Algiers.