Modern Architecture in Algeria, France, French Algeria, and Algerian France

Undergraduate / Graduate

This course invites students to consider the intertwined architectural histories of France and Algeria in the colonial and postcolonial eras. From colonial designs in French Algeria to counterhegemonic spaces of Algerian communities in postcolonial France, students will examine how architecture engages with fraught historical episodes and contested cultural landscapes. Case studies include Paris as a Eurocentric paradigm for the modern city, dialectics of construction and destruction in Algiers under colonial rule, and urban multiplicity in Marseille. Protagonists include Le Corbusier, arguably the most canonical architect of the 20th century, and underexamined figures like Abderrahmane Bouchama, who declared being the sole Muslim Algerian architect at the independence. By the end of the quarter, students will have gained substantial knowledge of the history of these two countries, their architecture, and the historiographical stakes of connective architectural history.