Marginal Domesticities: Resisting Capitalist Urbanism and Reclaiming Architecture’s Ecological Memory through Nomadic Forms of Inhabitation
What ?
In the face of accelerating environmental degradation and global social fragmentation, a renewed architectural interest emerges toward marginal ways of living that have long existed on the periphery of dominant systems. These modes of life, often grounded in ancestral practices, propose alternative frameworks of domesticity that resist the pressures of capitalism, globalization, and rapid urbanization. Communities such as the nomadic tribes of Tunisia, navigating the Sahara through seasonal patterns, and itinerant antiquarian in the Swiss territory, shaped by altitude and tradition, offer on one hand an insight into durable and fair modes of inhabitation and on the other hand the importance of cultural habitat for minorities. Their approaches to mobility, shared resources, and non-permanent construction reflect values of adaptation and community resilience. Yet, while both groups may share a detachment from sedentary urban life, they stand unequally exposed to global forces: one shaped by historical marginalization, the other integrated into a national narrative of heritage preservation and massively critisized by the masses. These contrasts underline how global exposure transforms not only the visibility but also the vulnerability of cultural practices.
why ?
My interest in these disappearing forms of domesticity emerged gradually over the course of my studies at EPFL. Through various academic projects, I encountered the theme of nomadism both as a spatial condition and a political one. I became increasingly aware of how the extinction of these cultures is not incidental but systemic, often driven by state interventions, modernisation agendas, and development strategies that label these ways of life as obsolete. At the same time, architectural discourse on sustainability was becoming louder, yet often more superficial, filled with promises of “green” solutions that mask deeply unsustainable practices: vertical gardens clinging to concrete towers, timber cladding wrapped around cores of reinforced concrete. A kind of eco-aesthetic, detached from structural reality. It was this paradox between the erasure of genuinely sustainable practices and the proliferation of cosmetic greenwashing that led me to question the dominant narratives around progress, modernity, and habitation. In parallel, I became interested in reuse, circular construction, and reversible urban strategies: practices that don’t just delay obsolescence but rethink how we define permanence and function. Perhaps, I thought, sustainability doesn't always require invention, perhaps it also calls for remembering.
how ?
This research will unfold across two complementary scales: theoretical investigation and site-specific study. I intend to engage with critical writings such as Architecture and Climate Change: 20 Interviews on the Future of Building, edited by Sandra Hofmeister and published in 2024. The book presents a series of interviews with experts on the future of building in the context of climate change. In parallel, I will draw on Greenwash: Big Brands and Carbon Scams by Guy Pearse, which lays bare the mechanisms of corporate environmentalism. Pearse decodes the language of sustainability often used to mask extractive, unsustainable practices offering a critical lens to examine the gap between appearance and action in so-called “green” architecture. Alongside these, the work guns, germs and steel by Jared Diamond will serve as a key narrative on the violent dismantling of sustainable and place-rooted cultures. It traces how colonial force, industrial extraction, and ideological conquest have historically erased self-sufficient systems: architectural, ecological, and socia, in favor of centralized Western control.
I will then narrow my focus to the context of Tunisian nomadism, its architectural traces, its spatial logic, and its material intelligence. I want to study how camp settlements are organised to ensure safety, intimacy, and peace. I’ll look at the strategic placement of essential resources such as water, and how access is negotiated in the vast and arid expanse of the Sahara. I’ll also investigate how “modern” resources like oil and electricity are used but consumed sparingly, with a sense of necessity and measure that stands in stark contrast to urban excess.
