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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. n.beqqal@enarabat.ac.ma 2Doctorate student, National School of Architecture of Rabat, Morocco. f.saaid@enarabat.ac.ma 3Ph.D, Professor, Founding member of the doctoral school of architecture, National School of

Architecture, Rabat, Morocco, omranechaoui@gmail.com

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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