One of the world’s largest concentrations of earthen “Berber castles” is endangered — and she’s made it her mission to preserve them. Yasmine Terki isn’t one to run with the pack. While most of her professional peers are consumed by working in concrete, the 45-year-old architect is trying to reacquaint Algerians with a humbler material, one their ancestors started using 15 centuries ago: plain old earth. Through her work with the Ministry of Culture, she is racing to preserve the country’s singular earthen architectural heritage (there are 10,000 homes just in Timimoun, where she is based), including the beautiful “Berber castles” and forts called ksars. And the stakes are higher than one might think. For starters, as temperatures rise and resources dwindle, Terki warns that people could actually perish in their concrete homes — which trap heat, unlike the cooler, more porous earthen structures — especially if oil-rich Algeria stops doling out energy subsidies that make air-conditioning affordable. | 