The Moroccan Drâa Valley earthen architecture: pathology and intervention criteria

A companion paper to Baglioni and Mecca's broader Drâa Valley work, focusing specifically on the pathology of earthen building decay in the valley and the intervention criteria appropriate for stabilising and conserving the building stock. The paper analyses recurrent failure modes — wall-base erosion, roof failure, foundation undermining by groundwater, structural damage from seismic events — and proposes a framework for prioritising intervention by severity and reversibility.

The intervention criteria are framed as proposals rather than authoritative standards. Like much of the Drâa literature, the paper sits in the space between scholarly observation and practical conservation guidance, neither fully one nor the other, but useful as a synthesis of what is known about how the buildings fail.