Jah­res­pu­bli­ka­tion des Labo­ra­toire Bâle der EPFL

Fez Les­sons – Indus­trious Habi­tat

Her­aus­ge­ber:
Harry Gugger
Tiago Trigo
Augus­tin Clé­ment
Alex­an­dros Fota­kis
Sarah Barth

Klap­pen­text:

The infa­mous Scram­ble for Africa at the turn of the twen­ti­eth cen­tury dis­rup­ted the entire Afri­can con­ti­nent with endu­ring reper­cus­sions. Morocco — stan­ding at a geo­gra­phi­cal cross­roads bet­ween Sub-Saha­ran Africa, the Maghrebi Arab-Muslim world, and Medi­ter­ra­nean Europe — has ever since strugg­led to with­stand the resul­ting cul­tu­ral and socio­po­liti­cal clas­hes.

«Fez Les­sons: Indus­trious Habi­tat» inves­ti­ga­tes how these clas­hes have marked the socio­e­co­no­mic struc­ture and the urban fabric of Fez, and whe­ther or not the resul­ting mor­pho­logy offers alter­na­tive and rele­vant means of human asso­cia­tion and com­mu­nity. Along­s­ide a gro­wing stream of large-scale inter­na­tio­nal invest­ment, the con­stant ent­i­ce­ment of tou­rism, and a world­wide revi­val of natio­na­lism, we are loo­king for tiny cues, nag­ging doubts, and signs of the fusion bet­ween form and life, rai­sing ques­ti­ons about iden­tity, authenti­city, tra­di­tion, the glo­ba­liza­t­ion of cul­ture, and the use of local resour­ces.

laba has been ope­ra­ting in Basel since Sep­tem­ber 2011 and is direc­ted by Pro­fes­sor Harry Gugger. Fez Les­sons is the 11th volume in a series ent­it­led «[Place] Les­sons: Teaching and Rese­arch in Archi­tec­ture» that docu­ments laba’s aca­de­mic work.