This eighth issue of Clara features a thematic section devoted to Modernism Outbound: Architectures and Landscapes of Agrarianism and guest-edited by Axel Fisher (Université libre de Bruxelles), Aleksa Korolija, and Cristina Pallini (Politecnico di Milano). The six papers collected in this section discuss several rearguard experiments that developed original solutions and visions of rural architecture and village town planning. Whether realized or not, these blueprints, schemes and plans, produced by or for state or para-state organizations, reflect the tensions between the experimental nature of architectural expression, the desire to modernize the countryside, and the alleged atavism of the rural realm. The introductory essay offers a theoretical and conceptual framework to situate these experiments in relation to agrarian reforms and recent advances on the subject in the field of world history of agriculture, and of global and transnational history.

The “Archives” section presents renovation projects of rural housing developed in Morocco by the Belgian architect and “coopérant” Jean Hensens, particularly during his time spent at the CERF (Centre d’expérimentation, recherche et formation), a subsidiary research and training organization of the Ministry of the Interior.

Finally, in the “Aparté” section, Alice Paris looks back at her graduation thesis, which brings together environmental and architectural questions through the study of semi-cylindrical corrugated iron sheet as a building material.