Matmata: architecture under ground_line

The underground housing of Matmata Region are residences vertical excavated, because they remain normal to the horizontal line of the land.The ground surface is shaped as alternating hills, whose consistency is that of clayey sand resting on limestone. The origin of this type of settlements in Tunisia, is dated between the seventh and the twelfth century A.D. the period between the first and second Arab invasion. The research starts from the surveys of several houses of the ancient settlement of Matmata. It aims to identify the causes of developpment of such settlements, located between 30° and 50° latitude north. The study also considers the underground housing as extreme response to the very difficult climate conditions. The underground architecture is considered a special characteristic of the need of living. It is due to the Myth of the Rock in the complex relationship between man and environment. It start from the primitive shelter in the cave and is linked to underground settlements. The identity of places is investigated through drawing of architecture in its meaning of representation which reconstructs the historical process of memory as a documentation of a program in an advanced state of decay.In order to create the complex "balance between the spaces of the past and the needs of the present".