THE FORMICARIUM Center and interpretation trail

The intervention site is located in the district of El-Hamma, at the end of the amphitheater of the bay of Algiers. This part of the city represents a cultural and heritage richness, both in the past and in the present, through its historical monuments which have contributed to the artistic influence on a national scale, such as the villa Abd el-tif, nicknamed the "Villa Medici of Algiers" and the National Museum of Fine Arts. By its nature and its relief, the site represents an important natural and landscape heritage. Nevertheless, he plays two different roles at once. The first is to offer environmental and landscape qualities specific to the place, while the latter through its topography represents in parallel a constraint and a barrier which divides the city and enclaves the urban entities constituting the site. from this context emerges the problematic of the project: How to articulate the lower part of the Boulevard -Mohamed Belouizdad- to the upper part of the site, while taking advantage of the latter's heritage sequences and reinforcing its environmental, heritage and cultural potential with a minimum of impact on the natural terrain, and by ensuring its independence as an urban organism (limit, polarity and route). In order to respond to the problematic, we are proposing a project involving an interpretation trail “the formicarium”. It will house several sequences to ensure the articulation between the entity of El Hamma and the barrier entity, to establish a connection with the upper part by crossing the natural barrier and finally the enhancement of the existing built heritage. The work that we present, proposes to fit between the two roles of the site, taking advantage of both the natural, landscape and environmental qualities, while transforming, through our design, the constraints of the site into strengths for a project. complex and unique similar to the site of intervention, and which integrates perfectly into the latter. With the consideration of the heritage and architectural potentialities, the so-called concept of "interpretation" of the context and of the site itself has been put in place, while targeting the following process: through interpretation we reach understanding, by understanding; appreciation and through appreciation protection.