OAM Mathendush
The Messak-Settafet, located in the south-western Fezzan [Libyan Sahara], is a plateau cut into the Lower Cretaceous Nubian sand-stone. Dissected by a dense net of wadis, its dominant and distinguishing feature is the black colour of the desert patina. The sharp scars of the wadis are the scene of an impressive rock art gallery, dated between 7000BC and 2000BC.
Since 2000, an Italo-Libyan Archaeological Mission was commissioned by a leading oil company to conduct an investigation on the site, the Messak Project to which the Open Air Museum Mathendush belongs.
The architectonic arrangement consists of a building and a visit path, with the aim to define a respect area for the art heritage and to protect a cultural identity. The hidden memory of the proposal lives in a route in the desert and a caravansary.
The built area is defined by a low wall with a rectangular plan, proportioned by logarithmic ratio. Here a series of additional low and high walls, arranged on “L” shape along the perimeter, create the space for services, the exhibition room and the tuareg handcraft market.
The project uses traditional materials and construction knowledges, translating them through modern technologies into a precision of manufacture: stone blocks, rammed earth walls, wooden roof plots, tents are all ingredients of a chromatic and tactile orchestration with the context.
The first site survey took place in January 2011, then the civil war took place.
