The Impact of Local Vernacular Building Tradition on the Italian Colonial Architecture in Libya

In the four decades of Italian colonization of Libya, Italian architects attempted to find the architectural style for their colony. As they settled down in their new colony, a new theory discussions emerged on how to build in the colony; as a consequence of this new colonial power, new architectural concepts emerged, such as Neo-Moorish, Modernity, Romanity, and Mediterranean. Further, the colonial architectural discourse went through many political periods that shaped their architecture; however, exploring, adapting and imitating local architecture was inevitable, since vernacular buildings provided all the ingredients of a modern building. The main argument of this research is that, through the analysis and understanding of Libyan vernacular buildings, Italians established a style inspired mainly by re interpreting Libyan architecture and vernacular forms; this inspiration was the base for Italian colonial style in Libya. Therefore, the research aims to investigate the link between vernacular buildings and Italian colonial architecture in Libya in between 1911-1940. This research will include a brief introduction to the topic, followed by the second chapter that will discuss the contextual background of Libya and different periods and civilizations that influenced the architecture in the region. In addition, brief research of Libyan vernacular architecture will be discussed, to establish a strong link between vernacular buildings and colonial architecture. The third chapter will discuss the colonial architecture discourse and its architectural influence in terms of architectural theory and practice in detail. Fourth chapter will contain results and discussions of the research. The conclusion of the research illustrates the direct and indirect relation between the two. As vernacular colonial architecture are analyzed, the link between the two is abundantly apparent, not just in terms of theory and colonial debates, but also in terms of architectural built form as well.