SOUK TABLABA IN TAGHJIJT, PROVINCE OF GUELMIM | salima naji

In  this very old palm grove, a colonial Souk of impressive size was built in the 1930s in the heart of the gardens of the Taghjijt palm grove: Tablaba. The size of the Souk, its morphology, but also the traditional clay techniques used, make it unique in the region. The souk included a court and small gargotes. The very ruined site has been perforated and mutilated for other uses on its fringes and is notably crossed by a road. The strict restoration of the site is no longer possible, nor is it possible to reuse it for an equivalent purpose, as other souks with better access have been built elsewhere. It was therefore important to think about new uses for this site, more in line with the current needs of the Taghjijt agglomeration, while trying to preserve everything that could still be preserved in a largely collapsed complex, but thinking about giving the site a new life.

Rehabilitated, restored according to the rules of the art, stabilized or even partially rebuilt in raw earth at the time of the New Decree of 2013 (application 2014) authorizing raw earth for construction, the project benefits from an intelligence of implementations, essentially because I was left very free to do without the straitjacket of the unsuitable and stupid standards, conveyed geographically by unfit and autistic engineering offices... They take over the project and eject the architect (from his own project, yes, there is such a thing!), and with the architect they disqualify the vernacular processes...

All the ancestral processes are therefore given pride of place in a logic of innovation and pilot training for the wilaya of Guelmim Oued Noun: reinvesting the so-called "vernacular" techniques by recreating constructive channels for the benefit of a truly sustainable development. The APDS, the Development Agency for the Southern Provinces, instigated this project in 2012, and it has just been delivered, in the spirit of a development that respects the environment, the people and their history.