University of Algiers

Notes

Despite its daring and spectacular architecture, the university posits various functional problems for its users pertaining to its large size, the maze of corridors and galleries, and the distances between the pavilions.
Classrooms are distributed across seven buildings; they are arranged in an arc with a main axis along which the administrative offices, the restaurants, the auditorium, some laboratories, and the library are configured.

The buildings housing the classrooms resemble the “Palais des Arcades” that Niemeyer designed in Brasilia. The upper and lower parts of the façade are animated with arcades behind which a fully glazed wall is set. The advancements in concrete technology and Niemeyer’s know-how granted him the capacity to deploy diverse architectural forms such as cantilevers, canopies, suspended slabs...
 

Sources

Abderrahim Kassou

Baba-Ahmed Kassab, Tsouria, Sur Les Traces de la Modernité 50 Ans D’architecture, Bruxelles : Civa, 2004, p.63
 

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