Hasta La Ideas

Flowering vines will sprawl across the facades of these four tower blocks underway in Casablanca by French studio Maison Edouard François, creating a series of brightly coloured vertical gardens.

Located in the Les Hopitaux district of the North African city, the Gardens of Anfa project by Maison Edouard François comprises three mid-rise residential towers and a low-rise office office block. Set to complete by 2017, it will be the first development in Africa to feature vertical gardens this extensively.

Each floor of the three 16-storey residential towers will feature wrap-around balconies with screens made from an interwoven mesh. The balcony walls will be planted with jasmine or white bougainvillea, an ornamental vine native to South America.

As the plants become established they will grow throughout the mesh, creating a blanket effect on the exteriors of the buildings. The 12-storey office block meanwhile will be differentiated from the surrounding buildings by the multicoloured flowers adorning its facade.

The development encompasses a 50,000 square-metre site. Once complete, it will become a new mixed-use quarter that will also include public spaces, underground car parking and a series of low-rise residential blocks.

At the base of the towers, public spaces will include seating, cafes, water features and a thoroughfare for cars and buses. Washingtonia palm trees will create a dense thicket of foliage, shading pedestrians from the intense Moroccan sun.

Moving further away from the centre, trees and bushes of blue and white blossoms will be planted to separate the towers from the low-rise residential buildings that form the outer edge of the development.

These buildings will feature a series of balconies jutting out from the facade at random, and are also intended to incorporate vertical gardens. A row of purple blossom trees will form an outer perimeter, completing the development.

“These residential buildings break down the scale of the high-rise towers to give the park an inhabited character. This architecture of individual buildings demarcates the limits of the gardens,” added the spokesperson.

This isn’t the first time Maison Edouard François has combined high-rise buildings with plants. Tour Végétale de Nantes was a concept unveiled by the studio in 2011 that featured trees and shrubs growing in stainless steel tubes on each floor of a tower.

Here’s some information from the architects:

The Gardens of Anfa, Casablanca – Morocco

The Gardens of Anfa will be the landscaped heart of a new neighbourhood in Morocco.

A large, dense park conceals a series of four buildings with vegetal façades, creating mimetic games with the surrounding nature.

In the foreground, Washingtonias are planted as if in a dense forest. In the mid-ground, multi-colored flowers cover the topography. In the background, trees and bushes flourish with blue and white blossoms.

The architecture plays itself out in many colors. Towers with organic forms are implanted around the square. The towers with office spaces have façades that are planted with multicolored bougainvilleas. The towers with housing units appear white, planted with jasmine or white bougainvilleas.

Lower buildings surround the park and are set back from the adjacent roads. The façades of these small buildings are vertical gardens. These residential buildings break down the scale of the high-rise towers to give the park an inhabited character. This architecture of individual buildings demarcates the limits of the gardens.

Program : Mixed-use program consisting of three mid-rise residential towers (R+16), a low-rise office tower (R+12), surrounded by low rise residential blocks, convenient amenities for the residences open onto the central and linking public piazza and three underground parking lots distributing each lot that make up the master plan.

Client: Yasmine Signature Anfa Club
Team: Maison Edouard François, Groupe 3 Architectes (local construction architect)
Area: 50 000 M² Net Floor Area
Schedule competition: 2012
Construction permit: 2013
Delivery: 2017

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Gardens of Anfa by Maison Edouard François appeared first on Dezeen.

After a trip to Marrakech, Tory Noll was hooked—on the bold, multicolored rugs and blankets she found in the open-air marketplaces. “I’ve always been obsessed with pattern and textiles, and rugs have been an idle passion of mine for some time. I went…

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L’allemand Vincent Urban est allé au Maroc pendant 3 semaines cette année. Traversant ce magnifique pays de contrastes, le réalisateur nous propose une vidéo de 5 minutes cumulant de superbes images. Produite par Sigma Techno, cette création invite à l’évasion. A découvrir en détails dans la suite de l’article.

Dutch studio TomDavid Architecten has won a competition to design a market square in Casablanca, Morocco, with plans for a canopy of leaf-like structures.

TomDavid Architecten‘s proposals feature an elevated plaza and an underground services level, providing an infrastructure for both the legal and illegal markets that currently dominate the surrounding streets. “Both markets are vital to the economy,” say the architects.

The towering concrete structures would shade the markets from intense sunshine and shelter them from the rain. Rainwater would drain off the surface of the oversized petals and be channelled into underground storage tanks so it could be reused for cleaning the paving in the square or for flushing the new public toilets.

The architects cite trees, the female body and local 1950s architecture as inspiration for the organic concrete shapes. “The choice of material for the canopy is ultra high strength concrete, which enables us to obtain a relatively slim and light curved roof structure, while the inside of the canopy is to be covered with gold tiles,” they explain.

Rubbish disposal chutes would be tucked between the columns, directing litter into concealed underground bins.

Above: exploded axonometric diagram – click above for larger image 

The architects also propose a cafe and an information wall, displaying a clock and a transport map.

Above: concept sections – click above for larger image 

See more stories about markets, including a concrete fish market in Istanbul and a market hall with a zig-zagging roof in Mallorca.

See more projects in Morocco »

Here’s some information from the architects:

Casablanca Sustainable Market Square

Context

The site is situated right next to the Medina and in consequence interwoven with the indispensable social and economic structures of the Old City. Both legal and illegal markets dominate the streetscape and are vital to the local economy. The downside of this density of commercial street business is the pollution and the decay of the public space. The design will have to serve as an example on how to improve the practical aspects of the market but leaving the existing social economic structures intact.

Concept

We combine indigenous techniques for shelter and heat control, the accountability of it’s residence and innovative low-maintenance materials. In this way, we create an efficient and pragmatic icon for the next generation market which serves as a catalyst for improvement.

Design

The shape of the canopy refers to nature, providing shade and shelter like a tree. The overlapping of the canopy-leaves ensures the cascading drain of the rainwater and allows air circulation. The curved concrete forms of the design are both a tribute to modern Casablanca architecture from the 50s and an endorsement of the beauty of the female form, as a nod to the dominant male culture on the street.

Sustainability / Positive development

How to define sustainability in the broader context of the reality of Casablanca? Besides solely as a design-tool, in this case sustainability should be a societal journey. This journey brought about by acquiring new awareness and perceptions, by generating new solutions, activating new behavioural patterns and, hence, cultural change. This process must be seen as a positive development under the responsibility of the local residents to increase economic, social and ecological capital.

In our design proposal therefore, our sustainable contribution is twofold. First by using low-tech techniques to collect and reuse rainwater to flush the toilets, clean the market-floor and applying evaporate cooling by using the heat of the sun and the wind to freshen the air under the roof. Second, to be sure sustainability will be a collective agenda, negative environmental impact must be eliminated. By implementing a refuse and waste handling system for the market and using low-maintenance materials, liveability and durability will be improved.

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by TomDavid Architecten appeared first on Dezeen.

Beauty and decadent service at Marrakech’s palatial property

Anyone who books a luxury hotel surely wants the service to adhere to the old adage about being treated like a king, but Marrakech’s decadent Royal Mansour palace—originally intended to serve actual nobility—truly delivers such an experience. Overlooking the historic medina, Marrakech’s chaotic main marketplace, the hotel was personally commissioned by King Mohamed VI of Morocco to allow state guests. Completed in 2010, the perfect symmetry throughout the property represents the very best of Moorish architecture of Northern Africa, and every single item in the interior part of the space was handmade by a collaboration of local artisans whose decorative arts skills were passed down to them through many generations. Around every corner is another breathtaking example of geometrically chiseled sculptural cedar, zellige ornamental ceramic tile and smooth, shiny moulded tadelakt lime plaster work.

The Royal Mansour grounds form a labyrinth of paved marble paths lined with olive trees that lead to 53 unique riads, each built in the traditional style of a Moroccan home. Fortunately room keys are housed in a wallet with an accompanying map so you won’t get lost. The ground floor of each riad has a courtyard with a fountain, as well as a drawing room with a seating area covered in bespoke furniture and an abundant pile of elegant silk pillows. The second floor comprises a bedroom, dressing room and study. The top floor of each riad also has a private terrace with a fireplace and a plunge pool, perfect for enjoying breakfast with a view of the sunrise over the Atlas mountains. We recommend traditional Moroccan pancakes, Beghrir and Msemen, lightly fried dough served with the Mansour’s homemade spreads: almond butter with honey, apricot preserves and chocolate cream.

The rich three-bedroom riads include a library, private hamman and professional kitchen, and the complex houses one four-bedroom riad for those seeking a truly palatial experience away from home. There are no buttons or switches inside the riads—everything is controlled by a master touchscreen control panel.

For dinner, two restaurants overseen by Michelin-starred chef Yannick Alléno represent the dichotomy of Morocco’s rich culinary traditions.
La Grande Table Marocaine offers outstanding versions of local specialties like sheep’s head, while La Grande Table Française serves traditional dishes like couscous and tagine for less daring diners. The restaurants have made the Mansour a top foodie destination in Africa, where innovative dishes like prawns and game meat with local seasoning are paired with an equally impressive wine list.

The highlight of the Mansour is an unparalleled spa, which envelops guests in a rare sense of calm as they enter through a giant white wrought iron atrium reminiscent of a majestic birdcage. The experience begins in the “wellness lounge” with fresh lemon and ginger juice or a raw appetizer, from which guests can then choose between a traditional hamman for a scrub with black soap or an argan oil massage tailored to an individual’s needs. Guests can also enjoy deep steam baths or the covered greenhouse pool overlooking the gardens designed in the style of those on the grounds of the Alhambra Palace in Granada.

The Royal Mansour complex becomes a different entity at night, scored by the sounds of running water throughout the numerous fountains lining the candlelit walkways. Although there are 500 staff members, about 10 for every riad, you’re not likely to see the majority of them. The compound operates through an underground city where 24-hour butlers have access to each riad. This level of attentiveness may take some getting used to, but if you’re seeking a getaway where anything you desire is reachable with the touch of a button, you’ll find comfort in the Royal Mansour’s legendary service.

Rue Abou Abbas El Sebti

40 000 Marrakech

Morocco

+212 5 29 80 80 80