DESERT LIVING UNDER THE PRESSURES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
REIMAGINING MARRAKECH’S RURAL FRINGE, MOROCCO

This Global Architecture course in Marrakech Morocco, led in collaboration with rammed earth expert Professor Oussama Moukhmir, permaculture specialist Omar Hajji, social enterprise champion Faiza Hajji and Tourism and Storyteller specialist Mandy Sinclair will focus on the development of alternatives for integrated living in the urban fridge of the city of Marrakech through imaginary narratives of a farm of the future. Its goal is to introduce students not only to the integration of landscape, architecture and urbanism in a Global South context, but also to acting at different scales as designers, from masterplan to material testing with local craftswomen for a small design built-project.

A UNESCO world heritage site, the city of Marrakech has an incredible architectural and landscape heritage, which has been eroded by climate change, urban growth, massive influxes of new residents and tourists. Today, the rural fringes of the city, farmed in the past by low income farmers, are being replaced by suburban sprawl and vast tourism projects. These new built environment is often insensitive to its negative impacts on its arid ecosystem and dismissive towards traditional building, farming, and water management techniques. Using a cohesive multidisciplinary approach, this course will help rethink how the territory around Marrakech can be inhabited in harmony with its natural resources and population needs.

The course will survey key landscape and architecture projects in the old city of Marrakech, called the medina, and in the outskirts of the city, in order to extract from them innovative ideas. The permaculture farm Marrakech Organics, located outside of Marrakech, will serve as a case study and laboratory ground for students to deploy ideas and tests traditional building and landscape techniques through various optional workshops.

SCHEDULE

This four week course will be structured around seminars, fields trips to visit case study projects in Marrakech and in its region, lectures by experts, independent studio work and participation workshops at Marrakech Organics (MO).

Week 1: May 15th- May 22nd: Introduction, case study research, site analysis and mapping, trip preparation

Week 2: May 25th - May 29th: Seminars on tourism narratives + water systems and architecture in arid climates, case study visits in the medina of Marrakech, case study analysis, independent studio work, presentation of case studies

Week 3: June 1st - June 5th Seminars on permaculture, rammed earth construction and local craft, case study visits in the rural region of Marrakech (village week end trip), first design charrette for farm masterplan, independent studio work, and participation in MO workshops

Week 4: June 8th - June 12th Second design charrette for the farm masterplan + building and landscape proposals, independent studio work, participation in MO workshops, final presentation Optional: June 13th - June 16th trip in the Atlas Mountains and Sahara Desert (for students wishing to say longer in Morocco, the course instructor can put together this trip, costs are additional to the estimated budget)

BUDGET

Please find below an estimate of the costs per student. Meals during 2 Sundays and one Saturday are not accounted for (please count around 25$ a day for your meals during week-ends). This program is available for IE Awards+ funding. For more information, please see here and to apply please see here.

Transportation

• Airfare Toronto-Casablanca + Train Casablanca-Marrakech: 1,300 $CAN
• One day field trip 1: Water Museum- Yves Saint Lauren Museum + Jardin de Majorelle – Jardin Secret: 20$
• One day field trip 2: Pierre Rabhi project: 30$
• Two days field trip in Atlas Mountain Village: 35$

Accommodation

• Double rooms from May 24th to May 31st in a ryad in the medina of Marrakech: 60$/person/night (total for 8 nights: 480$)
• Double or triple room from May 24th to June 12th: 28$/night (total for 11 nights: $308)
• One night at mountain village (all meals included): 41$

Meals

• Meals during the week at the hotel in the Medina of Marrakech (not including week end): 25$/day for 3 meals a day, 125$
• Meals at Marrakech Organics: 3 meals a day for 10 days at MO (aside from one lunch and dinner during field the mountain village + week-ends) : 20$/ day for 3 meals, 200$
• Lunch in Marrakech during field trip 1: 10$
• Lunch at Pierre Rabhi’s project during field trip 2: 10$

Tickets for site visits

• Jardins de Majorelle : 15$
• Jardin Secret : 10$
• Water Museum : 6$
• YSL Museum: 10$

All other museums and gardens are free

Workshops (optional)

• Rammed earth workshop: 60$
• Craft workshop: 30$

Tours (optional)

• Medina tour: 15$
• Oasis tour: 25$

TOTAL: 2,769$

APPLICATION

In one pdf, include a CV, 2-5 design samples from work done in studio at Daniels, up to 1 work sample from internships or 1 research sample if available, and a paragraph describing your interest in this course. Please be sure to include your full name and student number.

Deadline: February 18, 2020

Please apply via email to aziza.chaouni@daniels.utoronto.ca and registrar@daniels.utoronto.ca with the heading: Global Architecture Application.

Students will be informed via email of their acceptance to the program in by March 2nd 2020. A Course Description, Syllabus and References for the Course will be made available online soon.