The Djebel Amour region, located in the Western Saharan Atlas of Algeria, hosts a vernacular mosque heritage that remains largely unexplored. This study presents the first comprehensive typo-morphological analysis of fourteen mosques dating from the 11th to the 20th century. Their original architectural state was reconstructed through the triangulation of field surveys, archival documentation, iconographic sources, and oral testimonies. A reference model based on four recurrent components—the prayer hall with its mihrab, courtyard, portico, and minaret—enabled the identification of typological constants, contextual variations, and vernacular constructive logics. The results reveal the persistence of sober and functional forms, marked by the frequent absence of a courtyard and the presence of skiffa-inspired porticos and staircase minarets. A complementary quantitative component strengthens cross-regional comparisons and situates the Djebel Amour corpus within wider North African, West African, Middle Eastern, and Southeast Asian vernacular mosque traditions. Beyond architectural reconstruction, this study develops an operational framework for conservation and transformation management, supported by a structured database that systematises typological, material, and construction data. While the analysis relies primarily on photogrammetric documentation, the proposed framework is compatible with international digital standards and can be expanded through methods such as 3D laser scanning, drone-based surveys, or geospatial modelling. By integrating qualitative, quantitative, and digital perspectives, this research offers practical tools for heritage authorities, local administrations, mosque committees, architects, designers, and conservation practitioners, positioning the Djebel Amour mosques as a reference model for sustainable heritage management and contextual adaptation in arid and tribal environments.

This work undertakes a study of the colonial architecture produced in southern Algeria during the 19th and 20th centuries. The comparison of the colonial architecture as it is manifested in public buildings in the north and south of the country will make it possible to grasp the specific characteristics of the architectural language developed in Saharan cities during the colonial period from 1832 to 1962. More precisely, the research endeavours to reconstruct, in a chronological manner, the conditions of production, the modalities of evolution of this architecture and the diversity of its formal attributes. To this end, a historical-analytical approach has been applied to a sample of buildings representative of the French presence in Algeria. In particular, the analysis focused on their architectural features with the intention of characterising the French imperialism formal and stylistic expressions which are rooted in eighteenth-century orientalism. The results show that the emphasis on 'indigenous' culture promoted by Governor Jonnart in the early 20th century, which was crowned by the adoption of the architectural orientalism as an official style often emanated from a concerted policy to symbolise France’s presence, power, and domination in the colonised territory. Additionally, the study highlighted the features related to the stylistic expression of the public facades through the identification of the architectural and decorative elements used in their design. Finally, it appeared that official architecture in the north was generally expressed through a single style that was successively neo-classical, art deco and neo-Moorish. In the south, however, colonial architecture was more nuanced and clearly influenced by the local Saharan context and the vernacular built environment, although the concept of vernacular architecture has been implemented just as mere rhetoric. Therefore, the colonial architecture generated in the southern territories cannot be considered as strictly imported or exogenous, as was the case for the north, but rather as the result of crossbreeding between vernacular, occidental and sub-Saharan African architectures.