at the dawn of the sustainable moroccan modernism
TRANSCRIPT
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At the dawn of the sustainable Moroccan modernism : Bioclimatic approach in
early GAMMA group’s architecture
Beqqal Najoua1, Saaid Fatima Zohra2 , Chaoui Omrane Mohammed3
1Doctorate student, National School of Architecture of Rabat, Morocco. [email protected] 2Doctorate student, National School of Architecture of Rabat, Morocco. [email protected] 3Ph.D, Professor, Founding member of the doctoral school of architecture, National School of
Architecture, Rabat, Morocco, [email protected]
Abstract
During the first half of the twentieth century, the specific context of Morocco served as a breeding
ground for developing new approaches for modern urbanism and architecture. While colonial modern
architectures attempted to reflect the local culture and local architectural language by reinterpreting
vernacular architecture at the level of typological elements and artisanship, another approach
culminated around the independence in the architectural reflections initiated by the Group of
Moroccan Modern Architects, stressing new concerns for adapting modern architecture to its context,
climate, place and practices. Their approach, by detaching from both the colonial culturalist approach
and the universalist solutions of the modern doctrine, inaugurated a new turning point in the history
of modern architecture in Morocco, that constitutes the manifestation of early bioclimatic concerns
in modern architecture in the Moroccan context, which translated on both the urban and the
architectural scale. The Group of Modern Moroccan Architects, GAMMA Group's interest in
vernacular architecture and its reinterpretation crystallized in their early productions by paying
particular attention to the control of environmental parameters such as sunlight and ventilation, while
exploring local architectural languages as well as modern ones, as their respective construction
methods and materials. Examples of this approach includes the use of the patio and its reinterpretation
from the level of the urban block to public facilities to the level of the housing cell by architects
Michel Ecochard and Jean François Zevaco. At the urban scale, the specific architectural language
developed by the GAMMA Group and landscape approach in large touristic facilities as the Dades
hotel designed by architects Patrice Demazières and Abdeslam Faraoui, as well as in the reconstructed
city of Agadir, payed attention to the realities of local climate, topography and practices as early
attempts towards a contextualized sustainable modern urbanism in Morocco. This article aims
through representative examples, to bring an insight to what could be considered as the premises of
bioclimatism in the history of modern Morocco as developed by the GAMMA group, in order to
highlights how their contribution to the first reflections about a bioclimatic architecture paved the
way towards a sustainable Moroccan modern language embedded in its context.
Keywords: modernism, bioclimatic architecture, sustainable architecture, post-colonial Morocco, GAMMA
group, patio, Agadir.
Résumé
Durant la première moitié du vingtième siècle, le contexte spécifique du Maroc a été un terrain fertile
pour le développement de nouvelles approches pour l'urbanisme et l'architecture modernes. Alors que
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les architectures modernes coloniales laissent entrevoir des tentatives de refléter la culture et le
langage architectural locaux en réinterprétant l'architecture vernaculaire sur le plan des éléments
typologiques et de l'artisanat, une autre approche a culminé aux alentours de l'indépendance à travers
les réflexions architecturales initiées par le Groupe des Architectes Modernes Marocains, mettant
l'accent sur de nouvelles préoccupations d'adaptation de l'architecture moderne relatives au contexte,
climat, lieu et pratiques locales. Leur démarche, en se détachant à la fois de l'approche culturaliste
coloniale et des solutions universalistes de la doctrine moderne, a inauguré un nouveau tournant dans
l'histoire de l'architecture moderne au Maroc, qui constitue la manifestation des premières
préoccupations bioclimatiques de l'architecture moderne dans le contexte marocain, qui se sont
exprimées aussi bien à l'échelle urbaine qu’architecturale. L'intérêt du Groupe des Architectes
Modernes Marocains, le Groupe GAMMA, pour l'architecture vernaculaire et sa réinterprétation, s'est
cristallisé dans leurs premières productions en accordant une attention particulière au contrôle des
paramètres environnementaux tels que l'ensoleillement et la ventilation, tout en explorant aussi bien
les langages architecturaux locaux que modernes, ainsi que leurs méthodes et matériaux de
construction respectifs. Parmi les exemples de cette approche, on peut citer l'utilisation du patio et sa
réinterprétation du niveau de l'îlot urbain aux équipements publics au niveau de la cellule d'habitation
par les architectes Michel Ecochard et Jean François Zevaco. A l'échelle urbaine, le langage
architectural spécifique développé par le Groupe GAMMA et l'approche paysagère dans les grands
équipements touristiques comme l'hôtel de Dadès conçu par les architectes Patrice Demazières et
Abdeslam Faraoui, ainsi que dans la ville reconstruite d'Agadir, ont prêté attention aux réalités du
climat, de la topographie et des pratiques locales comme premières tentatives vers un urbanisme
moderne durable contextualisé au Maroc. Cet article vise à travers des exemples représentatifs, à
apporter un aperçu de ce qui pourrait être considéré comme les prémisses du bioclimatisme dans
l'histoire du Maroc moderne tel que développé par le groupe GAMMA, afin de souligner comment
leur contribution aux premières réflexions sur une architecture bioclimatique a ouvert la voie vers un
langage moderne marocain durable intégré dans son contexte.
Mots-clés : modernisme, architecture bioclimatique, architecture durable, Maroc post-colonial,
groupe GAMMA, patio, Agadir, contexte.
1. Introduction
While sustainability is rooted in architectural practices as early as the human civilization, the
contemporary awareness of its importance appears as a counterpoint to the modern doctrine’s
attempts to standardizing universal architectural solutions in a context of economic crises.
Researchers retrace the beginnings of 20th century’s sustainable architecture, as linked to the
exploration of vernacular architecture by modern architects in the late 19th century, and in the
Mediterranean basin, as highly linked to references to vernacular Mediterranean architecture1.
1 Lejeune, J. (2010). Modern architecture and the Mediterranean. /paper/Modern-Architecture-and-the-
Mediterranean%3A-and-McLaren/8ffe6d0dee4a9db08d4b50fb44378e72151d7918
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Therefore, its historical manifestations in architecture, as Attia Shady2 points out, went through a
succession of paradigm shifts, from bioclimatic architecture, to environmental architecture, to energy
responsible architecture, to green architecture, to sustainable architecture, to low carbon footprint
architecture, and to regenerative architecture.
Bioclimatism first coined as a concept by Aladar and Victor Olgyay in their book Design with
Climate: Bioclimatic Approach to Architectural Regionalism published in 19633, appears as the first
paradigm in the history of sustainable modern architecture4. Therefore, its principles manifested
through the work of many modern architects, whose reflections on passive and energy efficient
architecture led to reinterpreting solutions from vernacular architecture. Later, the context of oil crisis
in 1973 and 1979 brought a growing global awareness towards bioclimatic architecture. Bioclimatic
architecture constitutes then a starting point in a long process that contributed to inflecting
perspectives of modern architecture by challenging the modern movement’s standardized,
universalized and progressist principles towards a sustainable design, at both the urban and the
architectural levels.
Earlier in the Moroccan context, in the fifties, modern architectural language had already taken this
shift through the work of Modern Moroccan Architects GAMMA Group in favor of an architecture
embedded in its context at climatic and environmental levels, besides the cultural one. Their
productions challenged a modern universal paradigm by advocating for an adapted architectural
solutions to local challenges related to climate, landscape, and within local means while adjusting to
social and cultural specificities, participating therefore to shape a contextualized modern architecture
that drew its references both from observing and studying the context and taking part in international
reflections about modern architecture.
2. Early contextualized modern architecture in Morocco and Bioclimatic architecture’s
premises 1950-1970
The specific context of Morocco around the first half of the twentieth century constituted a breeding
ground for exploring new urban and architectural solutions by modern architects. During the colonial
period, the colonial concerns with modernizing the society while respecting its culture sought a
reinterpretation of a vernacular architecture by reusing typological and decorative architectural
elements, seen as references to the local culture, into a new modern architectural and urban frame.
Around independence, especially through the work of Ecochard, architectural reflections initiated in
Morocco by the GAMMA group showed an increasing concern for integration with its context,
2 Attia, S. (2018). Definitions and Paradigm Shift. In S. Attia (Ed.), Regenerative and Positive Impact Architecture:
Learning from Case Studies (pp. 13–17). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-
66718-8 3 Olgyay, A, V. (1963). Design with Climate: Bioclimatic Approach to Architectural Regionalism. Princeton University
Press. 4 Attia, S. (2018). Definitions and Paradigm Shift. In S. Attia (Ed.), Regenerative and Positive Impact Architecture:
Learning from Case Studies (pp. 13–17). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-
66718-8
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inaugurated a new turning point in the history of modern architecture. Their approaches, which are
detached from both the culturalist approach of the colonial period and the universalist considerations
of the modern doctrine, are now positioned in favor of an anthropological approach sensitive to the
place and the climate. This new orientation, which was expressed both at the urban and architectural
levels, initiated the beginnings of a modern bioclimatic architecture adapted to the Moroccan context.
2.1. GAMMA Group and its connection to the CIAM and the modern doctrine
At the international level, the 1950s marked a period of both the rise and the fall of a utopian universal
modern doctrine through the International Congresses of Modern Architecture. Carried principally in
the Mediterranean basin by Le Corbusier and his disciples, modern doctrine sought systematized
solutions to architectural and urban concerns. While Le Corbusier itself advocated a detached position
from traditional references, Mediterranean influences in his works showed as early as the five points
for a new architecture, formulated in 1927 in his battle against the beaux-arts academism. Shortly
later, Le Corbusier will gather several French architects to organize a meeting with international
architects and urban planners, which held at La Sarraz in June 1928, in order to define the theoretical
foundations of the modern functionalist urbanism. After the 4th congress, Le Corbusier wrote the
Athens of Charter in which he defined the four principle functions of the city, despite the
disagreements of many of the attendants upon the principles discussed for a modern universal
architecture5. The Athens of Charter advocated an orthodox functionalist doctrine in favor of a
deliberate universalism in the name of progressivism.
The connection of Moroccan architects to CIAM through the group of modern Moroccan architects
GAMMA group that intervened at this time gave them the opportunity to witness this change and
contribute to the debates of the 7th to 10th congresses as well as the work of Team Ten.
As disciple of Le Corbusier, Ecochard was invited by Giedion and Gropius to join in 1947 the junior
architect’s team within the CIAM with Norberg Schultz at its head at the time. In 19516, Ecochard
creates the branch of CIAMs in Morocco, GAMMA Group, architects. a group uniting modern
Moroccan architects as Georges Candilis, Jean Francois Zevaco, and Elie Azagury among others, and
that will fade shortly before the CIAM dissolution. While being vocal at first about the principles of
Athens’s Charter, Ecochard as the architects within the group quickly joined the position of less
orthodox architects, such as Aldo Van Eyk, who will introduce the Gamma group members to the
importance of context and sustainable approach in architectural design through Elie Azagury.7 Other
international architects will also influence the work of GAMMA group members. The discussions
held at preparatory assembly to the ninth Congress, in 1952 at Sitguna, Sweden, were according to
Azagury “instrumental in crystallizing new systems of values for gamma, such as favoring
5 Mumford, E. P. (2002). The CIAM Discourse on Urbanism, 1928-1960. MIT Press. 6 Mumford, E. P. (2002). The CIAM Discourse on Urbanism, 1928-1960. MIT Press. 7 Chaouni, A. (2009). Elie Azagury Modernism and Métissage. Docomomo Journal, 41, 50–55.
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environment over autonomy, change through time over static conditions, place over placelessness,
and a wholesome approach to the city over Athens charter four function of living zoning”8.
The departure of gamma members from the universal positions will show in the ninth Congress held
in Aix-en-Provence in 1953, which was marked by the position of the younger generation and more
particularly by the position of the GAMMA group represented by Ecochard and Candilis9. Ecochard
and Candilis will oppose to the project of a universal Charter of habitat, criticizing the detached
functionalism through their version of the grid of habitat. The project "habitat for the greatest number"
presented by Ecochard and Candilis (as ATBAT-afrique) advocated that local architecture can be
used as a lesson in order to provide a contextually appropriate response10.
The last Congress in 1956 witnessed the creation of the Team-Ten group composed of young
protesting architects whom position marked the Aix-en-Provence Congress. Their new orientations
were expressed both on an urban and architectural scale, aligned with the principles of a modern
bioclimatic architecture in Morocco.
Therefore, the connection of GAMMA group to the framework of the international the CIAM both
contributed to the birth of bioclimatic and environmental approach in modern Moroccan architecture
and to advocating a contextualized architecture within international debates on modern architecture.
2.2. The rise of a Moroccan bioclimatic modernism : The first projects of the bioclimatic
approach in modern Moroccan architecture
In 1960, Africa was the scene of a new trend within the modern movement. As described by
Historiographer Udo Kultermann, modern architecture entered a new era in North Africa and
particularly in Morocco11. Kultermann identified in 1969 this architecture as situated between modern
universalism and local references, a position similar to what would later be described by Kenneth
Frampton as the emergence of a critical regionalism12.
GAMMA Group's interest in vernacular architecture and its reinterpretation crystallizes an approach
that went beyond a formalist metissage (mix) or return to the vernacular. Thus, their approach
inaugurated a new architectural and urban language that paid particular attention to the control of
environmental parameters such as sunlight and ventilation while taking into account local
architectural uses, forms, construction methods, and materials that did not shy away from using
8 Chaouni, A (2014) Interview with Elie Azagury, Journal of Architectural Education, 68: No 2. 210-216, DOI: 10.1080
/ 10464883.2014.943632 9 Pinson, Daniel. La théorie au risque de la doctrine dans le Mouvement moderne (ou comment Sert et Ecochard ont fait
vivre la première contre la seconde). Les Cahiers d'EMAM, 2010, Trajectories and transactions of urbanistic models.
11 Kultermann, Udo, New directions in African architecture, 1969. 12 Frampton, K. (1993). 20 Toward a Critical Regionalism: Six points for an architecture of resistance. Postmodernism:
A Reader, 268.
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modern ones as well. At the urban scale, the formulations of the GAMMA Group show a sensitivity
to the landscape, topographic and climatic context.
3. Between the teaching of Kasbahs and the courtyard house : Honeycomb by Candilis and
the patio houses of Agadir by Zevaco
3.1. Vertical patios as for a bioclimatic architecture
One of the emblematic elements in this process of architectural research is the reinterpretation of the
patio, taken up for its spatial solutions to optimize density, but also as a device that allowed to meet
the imperatives of sunlight and ventilation requirements. The reinterpretation of this element took
place both at the level of the urban form and at that of the composition of the housing cell.
The project of the two emblematic buildings of the Honeycomb and Semiramis are one of the first
experiences of vertical housing for Moroccans during the colonial period, designed by the group
ATBAT led by Georges Candilis. Presented as a reinterpretation of the rural architecture of the
Kasbah in southern Morocco, the three collective housing buildings were arranged in a "U" shape in
the middle of low courtyard houses.
The first block with enclosed courtyards hanging on the south-facing façade and corridors on the
north-facing façade. On the second building, the facade is oriented east and west and the units are
accessed by corridors leading directly to private courtyards opening on both facades.
Although they were largely transformed by the inhabitants, and the vertical housing experiment was
not subsequently reproduced; this project constitutes one of the first experiments in modern
bioclimatic vertical housing.
Fig. 1 : Honeycomb, project by Georges Candilis, Shadrach Woods, Vladimir Bodianski and Henri Pirot in
Casablanca, 1952 Source:https://artchist.blogspot.com/2015/05/viviendas-atbat-george-
candilis.html?utm_content=bufferf4a75&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Oriented north-south, the honeycomb building presents the courtyards on the north side and the patios
on its south façade. The architects set up a climatic control of the buildings, thanks to the use of
transitional spaces between interior and exterior. These are defined by spaces for circulation such as
the corridors and staircases, and by intermediate patios as "extensions of the apartments" that create
a volumetric of projections and recesses, where the depth is accentuated by sunlight.
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Fig. 2 : Honeycomb, principle of sunlight and ventilation sections of the two buildings and floorplans Sources : © Architectural Design © Fonds bibliothèque. SIAF/Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine/Archives
d'architecture du XXe siècle
https://proyectos4etsa.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/03_.jpgt
3.2. Functional patios as a compositional element: patio houses of Agadir by J.F Zevaco
The patio houses of Agadir, built in 1964 by J.F Zevaco as part of the reconstruction of the city of
Agadir after the earthquake of 1960, and was awarded the Aga Khan prize in 1980, show equally a
research on the typology of traditional patio houses for a new sustainable architecture.
Fig. 3 : General view of the patio houses Fig. 4: Plan of the patio house units Source : Courtyard Houses Drawings. Courtesy of Architect
(submitted to the Aga Khan Award for Architecture), 1980
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These rowhouses are composed of 17 individual housing units designed as office houses. J.F Zevaco
reinterpreted in these villas the traditional patio house by breaking its patio it down into five functional
patios, within a horizontal and dense urban composition13. The project attempted to optimize at
multiple levels: ground occupation, construction costs and maintenance while respecting the lifestyle
of users, as well as optimizing heat and sunlight, while the presence of multiple patios allowed
adopting double oriented rooms, which were presented for the Aga Khan awards as the main objective
for this composition (Fig. 5 and Fig. 6).
Zevaco took early bioclimatic attempts to a lyrical level, often seeking in natural landscapes and
elements in situ his inspiration for his sculptural facades. He will carry in other building these
researches, including his own house in 1975, with a removable reed-roofed oculus (Fig. 7).
Fig. 5 : View of a patio house unit Fig. 6 : Interior view of a patio house unit Source : https://archnet.org/sites/132 Source : Meskine Hilal, 2017
Fig. 7 : Oculus in Zevaco House Source : http://hiddenarchitecture.net/villa-et-atelier-zevaco/
13 Courtyard Houses On-site Review Report, edited by Aga Khan Award for Architecture, 1980
https://archnet.org/authorities/349/publications/209
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4. Between the reference to the vernacular and the insertion to landscape: hotel les Gorges de
Dadès and the Holiday Village in Cabo Negro
4.1. Hotel les Gorges de Dadès and the Kasbah references
The Dadès hotel, located in Boulemane, designed by Abdeslam Faraoui and Patrice de Mazières, was
built in 1974 as part of a national economic policy to promote tourism in the modern morocco. The
architects explain their intentions and their sensitivity to the issues of sustainability and adaptation to
the context by asserting that in order portray the very spirit of modernity, it is necessary to draw on
the spirit of architecture and the local context by adapting to the climate, the landscape and society.
While avoiding “pastiche of traditional architecture”, as expressed by the two architects, this project
exhibits a marked reference to the vernacular architectural heritage of the region of Ksour and
Kasbahs built in adobe and stone. The architectural language rejected the conventional scheme of a
hotel in favor of a research inspired by the organic composition of the Ksour, the set of rooms is
arranged around a central patio with a pool recreating an oasis and preserving the coolness. Moreover,
the architects, aware of the climatic conditions of hot climate of the region, employed small openings
in the facades according to the orientation as a measure to control the effects of heat, while deep
overhangs protect the large windows for the terrace14.
Fig. 8 : Dadès Hotel - entrance level plan
Fig. 9 : The hotel in its context and a view on the existing Ksour Source : https://archnet.org/
14 Hotel Les Gorges du Dadès On-site Review Report, edited by Aga Khan Award for Architecture, 1980.
Hotel Les Gorges du Dadès Project Summary. Edited by the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Geneva: Aga Khan Award
for Architecture, 1989.
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“The designers attempted to incorporate several essential qualities of the local vernacular into their
scheme : simple volumes (exemplified by the repetitive use of seemingly cubical module composed of
two adjacent rooms), setbacks massing of volumes broken to provide terraces, and the judicious use
of local color and surface texture (achieved by mixture of mud and cement)”15
Although its final design is criticized for using hybrid materials and for a “limited” climate control
over some parts of the hotel 16, it is important to mention that the initial design as presented by
architects was initially planned to be carried out entirely in local materials, including a constructive
system with load-bearing walls in stabilized earth. However, due to the reluctance of the project
owner, only the ground floor was built in earthen masonry walls, as well as the use of a mixed coating
of cement and earth 17 . Unfortunately, this hotel, which contains artistic works from Moroccan
painter Mohamed Chabaa, has fallen lately into disuse18.
Fig. 10 : Exterior volumetric and openings Fig. 11 : Patio and pool Source : https://archnet.org/sites/83/media_contents/10813
Fig. 12: Mixed use of materialsSource: Aga Khan Award for Architecture
https://archnet.org/sites/83/media_contents/10813
15 Hotel Les Gorges du Dadès On-site Review Report, edited by Aga Khan Award for Architecture, 1980. 16 Hotel Les Gorges du Dadès On-site Review Report, edited by Aga Khan Award for Architecture, 1980. 17 Description of the project Hotel Les Gorges du Dadès by the architects : 1980 (Aga Khan Award for Architecture,
1989) 18 Recently, a petition held by Mamma group ( an association created in 2016 advocating for the preservation of the
Moroccan modern architecture), was launched against a programmed auction to sell artistic works integrated in this hotel.
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4.2. The Holiday Village in Cabo Negro and the Mediterranean modernism
In the same spirit, the project of tourist village of Cabo negro recreates an urban and architectural
dialogue with the landscape. Commissioned to the architect Elie Azagury by the African Society of
Tourism in 1964, this tourist complex located in the North of Morocco is also one of the firsts to go
beyond the simple insertion of architectural references and local materials. The project depicts a
manifest research of an urban insertion through the organic volumetric aggregation, inspired by the
Mediterranean architecture.
Fig. 13 : Master plan of the touristic complex Fig. 14 : Interior volumetric of the units
Fig. 15 : Insertion of the complex in costal landscape
Source : https://archnet.org/sites/471/media_contents/13753
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“A high density of development was chosen in order to create a sense of space which inspired to the
local traditional urban fabric ... The typology is characterized by an apparently spontaneous
assembly of rectilinear volumes with abundant openings, balconies and terraces covered with
trelisses.”19 This complex was inscribed as a cultural heritage of Morocco in 2007.20
4.3. Topography and insertion in the landscape : the Sidi Harazem Spa
The Sidi Harazem spa, located near the city of Fez, is part of a vast program of tourist projects started
after independence. The architect Jean François Zevaco, who already had several important projects
on his portfolio across the country, designed the Sidi Harazem projet in 1961. The project consists of
a thermal fountain, a market, a hotel and a swimming pool.
Fig. 16 : View of the spa's pool Fig. 17 : Entrance facade • Source : https://hiddenarchitecture.net/thermal-vals-sidi-haraze/
By subordinating modern language to local inspirations his approach is labelled sometimes as critical
regionalist, syncretic architecture21 or as lyrical modernist, Zevaco explores in this project the
physical conditions of the site through a complete respect to the natural topography of this landscape,
while respecting equally the spiritual characteristics of the site, with the mausoleum and the oasis
surroundings kept intact, and the adjacent part developed as a spa emphasizing the dynamics of the
topography to integrate the project into its site22. The different components of the project were
established around a central patio, and numerous water channels crossed the site.
19 https://archnet.org/sites/471
https://archnet.org/publications/3907 20 Arrêté n°2406.06 du 23/10/2006 - B.O n° 5489 du 08/01/2007, https://www.minculture.gov.ma/fr/?p=641 21 Hofbauer, L. (2010). Transferts de modèles architecturaux au Maroc. Les Cahiers d’EMAM. Études sur le Monde Arabe
et la Méditerranée, 20, 71–86. https://doi.org/10.4000/emam.77 22 Hofbauer, L. (2010). Transferts de modèles architecturaux au Maroc. Les Cahiers d’EMAM. Études sur le Monde Arabe
et la Méditerranée, 20, 71–86. https://doi.org/10.4000/emam.77
Chaouni, Aziza. “Making Modernism Modern: The Failure of Rehabilitation,” DOCOMOMO Journal, no. 35,
(September: 2006). pp. 16-17.
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Fig. 18 : Project cross-section : insertion and topography of the site Source : https://hiddenarchitecture.net/thermal-vals-sidi-haraze/
Fig. 19 : Pathways and vegetal elements, and their insertion in the topography of the site Source : left : Michael A. Toler https://archnet.org/media_contents/126574
Right: Julien lanoo; https://www.designboom.com/architecture/sidi-harazem-bath-complex-renovation-aziza-chaouni-
interview-10-14-2018/
Aiming to optimize construction costs while collaborating closely with the local craft workers,
Zevaco also innovated down to the smallest details in the project, both in terms of formal research
(suspended stairs, V-shaped columns, swimming pool with its circular suspended roof), as well as in
terms of construction techniques by marrying traditional and local materials. This station was lately
rehabilitated in order to restore its original components23.
5. From landscape to premises for sustainable urban planning
While premises towards a sustainable urbanism existed earlier through JFN Forestier “systèmes de
parcs” derived from influential Ebenezer Howard’s garden cities, which are considered an early path
towards sustainable urban planning, especially concerning dimensions of walkability and preserving
the natural environment, their application at the scale of a new modern city began with the
23 Interview with Chaouni Aziza. https://www.designboom.com/architecture/sidi-harazem-bath-complex-renovation-
aziza-chaouni-interview-10-14-2018/
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reconstruction of Agadir in 1961. When the architects of the GAMMA group gathered to design its
masterplan, they expressed early their concern for the sustainability of the future post-earthquake
modern city. The architects worked closely with principal city landscapers Pierre Mas and Challet to
set the densities for each sector, and criticized openly the model of "costa del sol" in Spain, wanting
to avoid its reproduction in the tourist area installed on the coastal band24. The touristic buildings
were disseminated in the green area with a density of 20hab per Ha.
Fig. 20 : Maquette of the tourist coastal sector Source : archives of Regional Direction of MATNUHPV of Agadir, photography : Beqqal Najoua. 2021.
Moreover, studying the topography of the city to optimize elements such as walkability in the dense
housing areas of talbojdt, with designing communitarian public spaces along with accommodating
the local climate and minimizing the costs of realization and maintenance, were important objectives
sought by the designers. While Agadir is not to be considered as a sustainable city by the
contemporary criterions, the principles that guided its reflections could reveal the first premises of
sustainability in modern urbanism in Morocco.
24 Revue A+U n°4, 1964
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Fig. 21 : The Walkability scale and landscape principles for the tourist coastal sector Source : left : A+U n°4, 1964 , right : Photothèque ENA Rabat.
6. Architectural details
6.1. The facade and the control of sunlight: loggias, claustras and sunbreakers-brise soleil
Since 1949, French,-Moroccan architects, and especially JF Zevaco and Elie Azagury, sought to take
into account the climatic local conditions in their architectural productions by integrating responses
developed in the modern doctrine as well as reinterpretations of the local vernacular architectural
vocabulary, in casbah references as well as Mediterranean architecture. Some details, such as sun
breakers “brise soleil”, that could be considered as the sixth point of a modern architecture25, were an
important component in the architectural language of the facades in order to regulate sunlight and
heat in buildings, but were in the context of Morocco, reinvented by recalling local architectural
elements.
Examples include the building of the agricultural credit designed by Zevaco in 1962 in Rabat, which
reinterprets the moucharabieh in the façade by incorporating wooden cubes as claustrats. Another
example is the town hall of Agadir, designed by the architect Emile Duhon, whose shield is believed
to be inspired by the collective attics "Igoudars", a heritage of the Souss region. Its double skin design
in with a concrete structure on the outside, and walls and openings in the inside, plays a role of a sun
breaker shell around the building and inside the patio as well.
25 De Boisséson, J. B., & Cambre-Horta, L. «Le Modernisme Tropical».
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Fig. 22: Building of the agricultural credit (BNDE) and its moucharabieh facing west at sunset, Rabat
Source : photography : Meskine Hilal, 2021
Fig. 23: Loggias, De Mazieres and Faraoui building, Rabat
Source : photography : Meskine Hilal, 2021
Fig. 24: City Hall of Agadir, view of the façade Source : photography : Beqqal Najoua, 2017
Fig. 25 : Imchguiguiln Igoudar
(collective granaries) Source:
https://www.lejardinauxetoiles.net/post/201
8/07/12/lagadir-grenier-collectif-
dimchguiguiln-restaur-c3-a9-pour-y-
recevoir-ses-visiteurs
38
Fig. 26: City Hall of Agadir, view of interior hall,
Natural light in the interior , view through the office windows Source : photography : Beqqal Najoua, 2021
6.2. A modern use of local materials
While during the period of the 60's and 70's, GAMMA group realizations where dominated by
brutalist architecture, privileging the use of concrete and other new materials, the use of local
materials remained one of their preoccupations. The reference to modern materials did not exclude
the exploration of mud brick which was used as well in economic housing, and in many public
facilities.
In 1968, a colloquium was held in Agadir, under the theme "First researches for the modern use of
traditional materials". The colloquium gathered architects from Morocco, Tunisia, France, Russia,
Italy, England, concretizing the initiative of Moroccan architects for the research of the adaptation of
the habitat to the site, as well as discussing the participation of the inhabitant in the elaboration of his
dwelling, and a comparative study between the construction methods of traditional and prefabricated
one.
Fig. 27: Exhibition “international union of architects” held in 1968 in Agadir Source : Photothèque ENA Rabat.
39
Fig. 28 : Reed-roofed porticos over walkways in the city center of Agadir ( gardens and buildings)
Source : Photothèque ENA Rabat.
Conclusion
Moroccan architects at GAMMA Group developed in the 1960’ an innovative and specific modern
language transcending the paradigm of universal modern architecture, their interest in adapting the
architecture to its context inaugurated the birth of a bioclimatic modern Moroccan architecture that
paved the way towards reflexions upon sustainability in Moroccan architecture.
The reinterpretation of vernacular references by those architects was an important turning point
towards sustainability in modern Morocco. Architects explored the teachings of local architecture not
only as a mean of achieving contextual architecture but also through the exploration of its bioclimatic
potentialities to create a specific sustainable modern architecture.
Examples of GAMMA Group examined here under the prism of bioclimatic architecture depict
representative projects presenting a historical value, informing on early reflections advocating for an
adapted architectural solutions to local challenges related to climate, landscape, and within local
Fig. 29: Revisited traditional tiles for seats at Sidi
Hazarem Spa
Source : Michael A. Toler
https://archnet.org/media_contents/104291
Fig; 30: Use of local washed gravel in pavings,
Agadir, 1961
Source : Photothèque ENA Rabat.
40
means, while adjusting to social and cultural specificities, that translated on both the urban and the
architectural scale.
Thus, these initiatives taken by GAMMA group both benefited from international reflexions about
modern architecture, and contributed to its renewal with regard to bioclimatic architecture.
Consequently, early bioclimatic modern architecture in the Moroccan context contributed to opening
up modern Moroccan architecture to new horizons, by introducing practices related to sustainable
architecture, which are now at the center of the current concerns.
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