– Exhibition at the College of Equipment Makers in Barcelona during March 2011 –
Morocco is a vast and diverse country. The Atlas Mountains are the great natural border between the fertile northern Mediterranean and the arid sub-Saharan south.
In this hostile territory, on the edge of the desert, water is life. Life is born at the top of the mountains and descends through their valleys and penetrates the desert, in the form of lakes and oases.
A UNIQUE HABITAT
Man has been able to manage this treasure for thousands of years, taking advantage of it to the last drop. Tradition has taught us to build efficient irrigation systems, to place houses on the edge of cultivated land, to adapt buildings to the conditions of the environment and to organize an urban fabric and social structure that would allow them to face both to the aggressiveness of the climate as well as to the attacks of their enemies.
Ksour, kasbahs, tghremt, ighrem, agadir, douar, saguias, khettaras… are the result. A unique habitat in the world, where nature is cared for like nowhere else and the most modest architecture is a true monument for its form, presence, rationality, economy of means and ability to respond to the needs of its inhabitants inhabitants.
A HERITAGE THREATENED
Foreign influence began during the time of the protectorate. Afterwards, emigration to cities or Europe, tourism, television, new materials and new technologies have shaped a new mentality. Society has changed and new myths, new needs and new demands appear.
The ksour are abandoned in search of new settlements. The social structure breaks down. Water, life, is being wasted out of control. These, and some more, are the key factors that today threaten the heritage of the region, in a fragile and complex balance between habitat and environment.
SUSTAINABILITY
Improving the living conditions of the population, incorporating all the services that a dignified habitat demands today, is an irreplaceable premise. Finding the formula that allows you to achieve this goal without renouncing the ancestral cultural values of a people is a great challenge.