DOCUMENTATION ISSUES

Post-War Modern Architecture in and with the situation of Tunisia at the end of the WWII. They visited themenzels in Djerba and the Ksour of Medenine and Tata- BY ELISA PEGORIN AND LUCA EULA ouine, the brick buildings typical of Tozeur (that Jean Le Coteur (1916-2010) reused in the neighborhood Les Andalous in the city of At the end of the spring of 1943, the German forces were finally defeated in Northern Tunisia and Bizerte), and the great mosques in Kairouan. had to leave the country. This allowed the French protectorate to take power and in the years that followed, thanks to massive American economic aid, undertake a very important project of archi- They saw themedinas and unlike the other tectural construction and reconstruction. All of Tunisia was involved but the four main cities (Tunis, myopic European architects before them, Bizerte, Sousse and Sfax), whose populations were expanding, saw entire parts of themselves understood that this cluster of houses and reconstructed. Today, a unique experience of modernity still remains in the tissue of all these cities, souk was not only a traditional building, but with big issues of conservation. but a brilliant functional solution for climate problems of places that are very hot in the summer. The problems of climate and sun exposure Una tradizione é un passato che altera il territory. His role was initially as an advisor, were two of the important points on which presente1. but almost immediately it turned into some- they built their thinking when it came to de- thing different. His arrival coincided with sign. The lessons learned by those who lived Tunisie, 1943 the death of the Director of the Department there proved useful when it came to building of Architecture, for which no-one was quite in scorched and barren territories. La Tunisie est le seul des trois pays d’Afrique prepared. Given the already critical situation, The department lasted for four years, du nord qui doit être considéré, après la guerre, the Prefect Roger Gromand (1905-1986) during which the foundations were laid for a comme un territoire sinistré. Les opérations immediately promoted Bernard Zehrfuss to fundamental renewal for the whole country. militaires qui se sont déroulées dans les Régences head of the department. This was something Public infrastructure and fundamental

58 – 2018/1 et les destructions systématiques auxquelles which would fundamentally change the re-housing interventions were created, in elles ont donné lieu avaient durement atteint les history of the country and the post-war addition to the structures put to the test by installations de toues sortes: les habitations, le reconstruction. the bombs. The urban projects really began materiel et les divers moyens dont disposait la In a short time, Bernard Zehrfuss created a only in 1945, and with the expansion of 2 docomomo Tunisie avant la guerre . young and capable team, dividing the coun- urban Bizerte (which provided for a “new try into four zones and instituting pyramidal town” that almost doubled the city itself on With these words starts the 1948 special issue management of the territory. Every zone had the other side of the bridge, over the last of the famous review L’ Architecture d’Aujo- its reference architect, in particular Claude stretch of the lake of the same name) the first urd’hui dedicated to Tunisia, clearly outlining Blanchecotte (1911-1996) in Tunis, Jean Le problems began to arise: the large number the difficult circumstances in which the Couteur (1916-2010) in Bizerte, Robert Greco of expropriations and other uncertainties country found itself at the end of the WWII. in Sousse, and Paul Laingui in Sfax. Then the related to the creation of Bizerte-Zarzouna Allies in fact landed in Morocco in 1942 group – directed by Bernard Zehrfuss himself gave the department a bad name. Then a few (during the so-called Operation Torch) while – was assisted by Paul Herbe (1903-1963) years later, Habib Bourguiba (1903-2000) led Documentation Issues General Rommel lost the battle in El-Alamein (along with Jacques Marmey, the only senior in Egypt and retreated to Tunisia, fortifying architect with field experience) and Jean the southern part near Gabes. In May of 1943 Drieu La Rochelle (1903-1986). the Allied forces, through a heavy bombing This division turned out to be remarkably campaign, broke the defenses of the axis and important because these architects were hunted the Nazis at the decisive battle of Cap not limited only to bureaucratic manage- Bon. They would move on to Sicily within ment and advisory roles, but would be the the next year, but in the meantime what they names that recurred on all major projects of had before their eyes was a disheartening the following years. They had their chance picture: about 120 connecting roads, bridges to operate in absolute freedom from cen- and viaducts destroyed (235 km of roads and tralized bureaucracies or departments due 69 bridges), the main electric stations in the to the fact that Tunisia was never a colony, country torn down, and more than 16,000 only a protectorate. As became buildings bombed. For these main reasons, increasingly committed to greater efforts the four years from 1943 to 1947, following in Morocco and , this strategically release from the Axis forces, were called the important but enormously problematic land Years of Reconstruction. was left in the background. Bernard Zehrfuss (1911-1996) arrived in Tunis, from Algiers, when he was 32 years old. The “Reconstruction” In 1939 he had been awarded a Grand Prix de The first months were spent carrying out Rome and obtained an official position in the important preliminary steps: the architects 01 Le Corbusier, House Baizeau, Carthage, Tunis, 1928. © L’Architecture D’Aujourd’hui,1948. French government to assess the damage that traveled all over the country familiarizing the long war had inflicted on the Tunisian themselves with the traditional architecture

74 02 Traditional houses, Medenine, Tunis. © L’ Architecture D’Aujourd’hui, 1948. the liberation of the country; difficult years in uation in which he found Tunisia. Just under determining guidelines for the many projects which feelings against the occupying power three million people were living in a situation that the country needed was fundamental for were in themselves already intense and of constant emergency that threatened to designers. The answer came precisely from problematic. block the country and which worsened from these trips. 58 – 2018/1 month to month. They had to act relatively In addition to the link with the local tradi- The characteristics quickly and simultaneously find a pragmatic tion, the architects of the team, all relatively of Reconstruction, 1943-47 solution to the widespread lack of building young, had studied at the Écoles des Beaux-Arts materials and the shortage of suitable work- in and , and during their training docomomo Generally speaking, the situation of the ers. Tunisia is a very fertile land, but primary had come in contact with the theories of the Regency cities was astonishingly confused. resources for the construction industry are Modern Movement. When they arrived in No administration, no collectivity had con- in short supply: in fact, one of the reasons Tunisia they demonstrated familiarity with the cerned itself with the question of urbanism, for the trips made by the architects of the principles of the Athens Charter and a distance and the metropolitan areas had developed in Department of Architecture and Urban Plan- from French academicism, which saw colonial the most disastrous disorder, with the speed ning was also to understand the construction architecture still in terms of “Arabisance”. characteristic of Northern Africa. Bernard techniques and the ways in which the various Le Corbusier himself was very much Zerhfuss immediately noticed the difficult sit- architectures were developed. A search present in the memory of the architects that

worked in Tunisia in those years. They were Documentation Issues influenced by the publication in 1926 or, in 1938, by the French translation of the Athens Charter (resulted from the IV CIAM held in 1933). Le Corbusier had worked in Tunisia in 1928-29 on a house project, Villa Baizeau, located in Carthage. At the same time the architects who worked in the country in the 1940s, such as Bernard Zehrfuss, participated in CIAM and thus entered into direct contact with the main protagonists of modern archi- tecture. Therefore, we can risk saying that their reading of tradition is both partial and mainly interested in the pragmatic aspect.

Tradition and modernity

In which traditions were the architects based? Tunisia has particular regional differ- ences, especially depending on the geograph- 03 Bernard Zehrfuss and Jason Kyruacopoulos, La 04 Paul Herbé, Drawing about the possibility to ical position, nearer or further from the sea, “maison minima tunisienne”, 1943. expansion Tunis in the lake, Tunis, undated. and more or less to the south (from the coast © L’Architecture D’Aujourd’hui, 1948. © L’Architecture D’Aujourd’hui, 1948. to the desert). Furthermore, what adds to

75 these differences is the presence or not of particular construction materials. Through- out the coast, olive trees are plentiful and their wood is important for the structures of all the medinas of major cities. In Tozeur for example, building blocks are fundamental, while in the mid-900s houses carved into the rock of Matmata (already in full desert territory) were still inhabited. In all this, we cannot discount the importance of religious architecture, such as the mosques and madrasas (Coranic schools), into which the community poured its major constructive efforts. This is an important point because – as Marc Breitman also wrote in Rationalisme, tradition, Tunisie 1943-1949: Jacques Marmey (1986) – the fortuitous language developed by Bernard Zehrfuss and the research team owes much to their ability to select some of the traditional elements over others, and 05 Jacques Marmey, Control civil-regional, Bizerte-Zarzouna, Tunis, 1947. © L’Architecture D’Aujourd’hui, 1948. put them together in a modern language. Twenty years before, in 1923, the Tunisian architect and urbanist Victor Valensi (1883- The other big reason why these architects that of Sidi Bou Zid, where the square is the 1977) wrote L’Habitation Tunisienne, one of turned to Islamic Mediterranean local tradi- central element and the portico serves as a the first essays on traditional architecture. tion can be explained by the lack of materials rhythmic architectural element. While it may still be considered to fit the and skilled laborers that plagued Tunisia at The effects of this design effort lasted four orientalist mould, we are already faced with the time of the WWII – in fact, a school of years, from 1943 to 1947. In contemporary those elements that fascinated architects of building was created for this purpose early Tunisia, it is clear how the architecture of the 58 – 2018/1 the Department of Architecture and Urban- on, to teach builders and professionals. Using time, through its coherent language, inspired ism of 1943: the white plastered walls, pure widely-known and simple construction the years following the revolution. If the volumes, the roof-terrace and the absence systems was one reason why it was able to actual results achieved by Bernard Zehrfuss’s of ornament. start work quickly in an area troubled by ur- team were significant, so is the component docomomo The deep pragmatism of French architects ban-housing emergencies. These projects, pro- that this conceptual approach developed in allowed the typology to be summarized duced in the 1940s, spread out from the north those years. It is difficult to consistently trace briefly with simple variables with which to to the south of Tunisia, stand out for their the individual paths of the architects who re-build across the country. The same Ber- consistency, despite the many technicians and worked there, and still more their training nard Zehrfuss would later attempt to prevent engineers involved in the reconstruction. courses. Those of the European scene of the Tunisia from becoming so “big”, so they could Another element is the great importance period and of Auguste Perret (1874-1954), safely use types common throughout the ter- given to the climate issue; the architects were for his theories on the structure and form of ritory. The types were applied to houses both always looking for forms that would allow a architecture, were fundamental. First, in all

Documentation Issues private and public, and to public buildings greater degree of energy performance, with a their designs are the presence and a tendency such as schools, not only to better manage preference for natural methods of cooling and to purity through the use of simple shapes, the large number of projects but also for the ventilation, already an established tradition. figures easier to read that would allow clarity and recognition of its language and However, what most markedly characterizes immediate recognition of the typology. These its link with the past architecture. We must the work of the Department of Architecture forms can be identified by the use of the bar- not forget that Tunisia was not a colony but and Urban Planning under the direction rel vault (at the school or in the market), in a protectorate, and this meant that French of Bernard Zehrfuss was the great freedom the dome (often small), and the use of space investment also had “other” purposes as with which they acted, without suffering and geometry, as well as the color white, suggested by Edward W. Said (2003): “Every the dogmatism that Europe was increasingly typical of the Mediterranean tradition. empire, however, tells itself and the world codifying in the actions of many architects. The actions of the Department of Archi- that it is unlike all other empires, that its They had no prejudice against using what tecture and Urbanism were divided into three mission is not to plunder and control but to was rooted in the architectural traditions of main types, depending on their scale and educate and liberate”3. Tunisia, discarding the excessively decora- directly following the contingent needs of All these new projects were related in tive-formalistic. The architects did not impose reconstruction. The main projects involved language but distinguishable from the pre-ex- typically European models of living-matrix, the residential sector, as well as the construc- isting history. This occurred for strategic but maintained easily recognizable forms, tion and re-construction of public buildings reasons as well; often the public buildings offering a chance of immediate physical and (schools, clinics, markets, hospitals, roads and were outside the towns to be equidistant cultural appropriation by the locals. They bridges). Working on the city with major ur- from agglomerations which they were to tried to take advantage of the simple forms of ban projects that would respond rationally to serve. This meant that they became, in con- tradition in their modern taste, integrating it the needs of expansion and reconstruction of notative meaning, tracks that while strongly with their training in the modern European the urban grid was still stuck in the orientalist integrating the modern, manifested the might style. A tangible example of continuity is the dichotomy between the old town (medina) and of the occupying power. new markets built in the 1940s, for example new town (European). The building systems

76 07 Bernard Zehrfuss, Jean Drieu and J. Kyriacopoulos, 1947, Cover Market, Sidi Bou Zid, Tunis. © L’Architecture D’Aujourd’hui, 1948. 58 – 2018/1

06 Bernard Zehrfuss, Jean Drieu and J. 08 Bernard Zehrfuss, J. Drieu and J. Kyriacopoulos, 1943, School “type 2 classes”, Nakta, Tunis. Kyriacopoulos, E. Laingui, Apartaments, © L’Architecture D’Aujourd’hui, 1948. Moulinville, Sfax, Tunis, 1947. docomomo © L’Architecture D’Aujourd’hui, 1948. were to remain similar to those that were in I settle for drawing lessons from history, in the References the individual areas, in order to make the most increasingly deep conviction that there is noth- BILAS, Charles, Tunis. L’Orient de la Modernité, Paris, Édition de l’Éclat, 2010. of the locally available materials. The “minima ing new under the sun. Perhaps I might throw BREITMAN, Marc, Rationalisme et Tradition: Tunisie 1943- house” was organized as the traditional one out some ideas that would be interesting for the 1947 – Rationalism and Tradition Tunisia 1943-1947, around a central courtyard, but unlike its architects, remind some at least that wisdom Bruxelles, Pierre Margada Èditeur, 1986.

COTEREAU, Jean, “Vers une Architecture Méditerranéenne”, Documentation Issues predecessor allowed the addition of new parts consists neither in ignoring the architects of the Chantiers Nord-Africans, Juin, 1930. over time to meet the needs of the inhabitants. past, nor in following them to the letter, to the SANTINELLI, Serge, “Tunis la Blanche”, Architectures Thanks to this and certain bureaucratic actions, point of pastiche, but in understanding their Françaises Outré-mer, Éditions Margada, Liège, it was possible to issue around 4,000 building spirit so as to borrow from it freely 1992. ZEHRFUSS, Bernard, “La Construction en Tunisie”, An- 4 permits between 1944 and 1946. for inspiration . nales de l’Institut technique du BTP, n. 135, Juin, 1950. After 1947 there were political pressures L’Architecture D’Aujourd’hui, n. 20 – “Tunisie”, Octobre, and Bernard Zehrfuss had to leave the Following this long and complex history Paris, 1948 (monographic number). department and until 1953, moved to work of modern Tunisian architecture, there is a Elisa Pegorin in Algeria with some of the architects of the conservation problem today: modern heri- (b. Cittadella, Italy, 1981). Architect, graduated at IUAV, old department. In 1955 Habib Bourguiba tage is recognized and preserved with great Venice (2006). She worked for some architectural offic- returned to Tunis and in 1956 the declaration es in Italy and Portugal (2006-2010) and as freelancer difficulty, with the risk of losing a part of the writer for Italian architecture reviews. Since 2010, of the country’s independence was signed. country’s history that saw the formation of a she is doing her PhD research at the Porto Faculty of In this way all the great projects undertaken group of modern architects. Architecture (FAUP), on modern architecture in Italy by the protectorate were blocked for lack of and Portugal. She is currently researcher at Técnico – University of Lisbon (IST). funds, as well by the radical changes that the Notes country was set to face. The important thing 1 Albert Camus, “La Nouvelle Culture Méditer- ranéenne”, Jeune Mediterranée, bulletin mensuel de la Luca Eula that remains in Tunisian architecture from Maison de la Culture d’Alger, n. 1, April 1937. (b. Mondoví, Italy, 1981). Architect, graduated in Philos- the 1940s, in continuum with a sort of “Afri- 2 Jean Mons, “Les Problèmes de Reconstruction en ophy, in Aestetic’s area, at the University of Turin. He is currently enrolled in a Masters in Architecture at the can modernism” which spread in the 1950s Tunisie”, L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, Paris, n. 20, October 1948, 2. Faculty Architecture of Polytechnic of Turin (IT). and 1960s (for example the works in Tunisia 3 Edward W. Said, “Blind Imperial Arrogance”, Los of architect Olivier Clément Cacoub), can be Angeles Times, July 20, 2003. summarized in these words already written 4 Jean Cotereau, “Vers une Architecture Méditer- ranéenne”, Chantiers Nord-Africains, n. 1, Febrary by Jean Cotereau in 1930: 1930, 19-21.

77