Draa Valley Tighremt and Ighrem, Morocco

The spontaneous architectures of the Draa Valley can take you back to the classical language of Mediterranean architecture, where models and styles are taken as idioms useful to configure symbolic spaces capable of accommodating heterogeneous communities like the Berbers. These models are a compendium of constructive and formal packaging which can be used. A sort of Vitruvian treaty passed on orally, visible on the palimpsest of physical territory and structured by elements, methods and timing of construction. These constructions, fortified granaries or tighremt, are in the balance between conservation and dissolution. The tighremt are very fragile architectures, made only with rammed earth. They are now threatened by the weather and by abandonment. This research tries to verify, through objective data, the diffusion and conservation of Draa Valley tighremt and igherm. The employed methodology includes an analysis of some issues related to heritage, landscape and architecture. Fieldwork was designed to: 1. Produce a comprehensive map showing the location of tighremt and igherm in the Draa Valley. 2. Determine the relationship between territory, palm grove and tighremt with territorial sections. 3. Produce the survey of sixteen exempla. The survey drawing traces carefully every detail of building, they show how the position of the adobe bricks form symbolic decorations or how the alignment and spacing of the construction holes reveal the measurement of the formworks containing rammed earth, and consequently the measurement of the building. 4. Analyze the typological system and the construction techniques of tighremt and ksour.