Supporting Heritage Resilience: Digitally Aided Transmission of Traditional Earth Building Crafts in Southern Morocco
The earth-built heritage of Southern Morocco and the traditional know-how, competencies and skills associated with it are threatened by aridification, migration, dwindling interest in traditional life, changing life requirements, lack of formal training and intergenerational knowledge transfer, over-reliance on concrete construction and uncritical translation of modern methods and materials.
Using M’Hamid Oasis as a case study, the project supports heritage resilience by generating awareness of the tangible and intangible heritage richness of this place amongst the youth, building capacity in documentation and restoration of vernacular earthen architecture, documenting the traditional material knowledge and digitally aiding transmission to ensure its survival and counter the loss of workmanship.
About the project
The project furthers work undertaken in M’Hamid Oasis, Morocco, with Terrachidia and local communities to document, research and inventorize their cultural heritage, and build capacity in earth building.
It aims to develop strategies and tools to support earth-built heritage resilience in the face of economic, socio-cultural and climate change, while generating the knowledge base necessary for future heritage assessments towards safeguarding. Working to the spirit of UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, the project documents the traditional knowledge associated with the making, maintenance and repair of earthen buildings and digitally aids its transmission.
The project addresses the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: SDG8 Decent Work and Economic Growth (8.6); SDG11 Sustainable Cities and Communities (11.4); SDG17 Partnerships for the Goals (17.3, 17.9, 17.16, 17.17).
Key people
Dr Giamila Quattrone
Principal Investigator
Prof Soumyen Bandyopadhyay
Co-Investigator
Claudia Briguglio
Research Assistant
Pasquale Larosa
Research Assistant
Rim Yassine Kassab
Research Assistant
Kenza Belahnech
Consultant
Raquel Peña López
Consultant
María Galán Martín
Field Assistant
Ángela Calvo García
Field Assistant
Kate Eleanor Dodds
Intern
Haiyun Zheng
Intern
Georgia Young
Intern
Zhouxinyue Deng
Intern
Monika Koeck
Filmmaker
Activities & Outcomes
Phase 1 (2023): training, documentation, youth awareness raising
Within the framework of Terrachidia’s XXIII Oasis Campus Restoration and Documentation of Architectural Heritage (22nd-29th January 2023, Ksar Ouled Driss), we:
- trained international participants in vernacular earthen architecture documentation techniques and methods;
- documented the making of rammed earth walls, mud bricks, and the preparation and application of mud finishings and tadelakt through audio-video recording of on-site live demonstrations, measured sketches, field notes and interviews;
- held the M’Hamid, Morocco: Your Heritage, Your Future children workshop with 23 local schoolchildren between 8 and 12 years, raising awareness about the cultural heritage of the oasis and enhancing knowledge of specific elements of the curriculum through heritage-focused learning activities.
Phase 2 (2024): knowledge co-production and dissemination
Drawing on field data co-produced with traditional bearers in Ksar Ouled Driss we developed Heres, a digital, interactive, multimedia construction manual which documents the local earth building crafts and sheds light on the socio-cultural and religious practices associated with their execution as well as the hidden role played by women.
Heres aids and complements the oral transmission and on-site learning and application of traditional building methods, thus supporting earth-built heritage resilience in the face of social, economic and climate change. It also aims to improve technical practice to make structures less vulnerable to decay, natural disasters and climate change