The Biophilic Approach to Qualify the Inhabitant-Nature Relationship in the Domestic Space: The Case of the City of El Kala, Algeria

Abstract El Kala is a city on the edge of eastern Algeria, located in an exceptional natural landscape, classified as a world biosphere reserve in 1990 by UNESCO. The diversity of nature within the domestic space leads to research and study its place and value for the inhabitants and encourages to think about how to qualify the relationship between inhabitants and nature through the domestic space. This study is based on a biophilic approach, adapted to the architectural scale, based on a landscape and architectural analysis. The results obtained show that the observed biophilic design is only a means to build a relationship with nature by the inhabitants. The objective of this article is to highlight the contribution of the biophilic approach in determining the behaviour of the inhabitants of the city of El Kala.