Marqueur identitaire et vecteur de transmission : l’architecture en toub, un patrimoine en danger

du construction ( toub ) constitution du modèle traditionnel saharien entre l’environnement et ABSTRACT Algerian Saharan society is fundamentally conceived as a traditional society where architecture stems from a crystallization of social values. With reference to the past, it perpetuates memory and transmits knowledge. This contribution aims to define the determining fac tors in the design of this built heritage which tends to disappear. Based on an urban, architectural, and anthropological study, it confirms the importance of the building material ( toub ) in the constitution of the cultural model. The material gives shape to popular architecture custom made to man, for man, through which the culture of a people (of a society) is materi-ally transcribed. Environmental built, often a reduced reproduction of the cosmic order, the traditional Saharan habitat establishes a balance between man, the environment, and his culture.