I’m sure many of you have also enjoyed staycations in the UK the past two years. I’ve been continuing my regular garden visits to gain ideas and inspiration. But there is nothing quite like experiencing the new and unfamiliar and I’ve been fortunate to explore some buildings and gardens in other parts of the world and discover how culture and landscape inform traditional architecture and garden design. Here I recall a trip to Morocco in October 2019.
We journeyed over 3000km from Casablanca on the Atlantic coast, to the imperial cities of Fes, Meknes and Marrakesh. Southwards across the Middle Atlas mountains we reached the vast palm groves of the Draa Valley and camped in the Sahara desert. Heading west we visited remote gorges and quiet market towns around the stunning rose-gold Anti Atlas mountains before finishing in the fortified coastal town of Essaouira.
Throughout our journey we were able to witness several types of traditional Moroccan dwelling. These included tents of nomadic mountain herders, Berber pisé (mud brick) constructions such as the ksar (fortified villages) of the Draa Valley, urban houses and magnificent medersas (colleges), grand palaces and magical riad gardens.
Rural homes - Mountain tents and Pisé buildings of the southern oases and the Anti Atlas
Nomadic roaming by families searching for water and grazing grounds for their herds has a long history in Morocco. Tents made of goat hair and vegetable fibre were once a ubiquitous feature of the Moroccan landscape. In recent decades the nomadic way life has declined for various reasons - some families have chosen to adopt to a more modern lifestyle in villages and towns, some are becoming more sedentary in order for their children to attend ‘tent schools’ and more frequent and severe drought is making the search for pasture and water more challenging. This lifestyle only survives with a few nomadic tribes of the mountains.
Nomadic herders in the foothills of the Anti Atlas mountains
In the Ameln Valley, just north of the Anti-Atlas mountains in the south west of Morocco, we saw fine examples of pisé (mud brick) constructions. This material is fragile and needs regular maintenance, resulting in some residents abandoning these traditional homes in favour of new reinforced concrete houses which offer more modern comforts, are quick to construct and have less need for ongoing maintenance. However, as our guide explained, the concrete doesn’t have the qualities of pisé, valued for centuries for its ability to remain cool in summer and warm in winter. In a village near the stunning gorge of Vallee d’Ait Mansour we lunched with a family who are the last residents of a now ghostly village, situated in a stunning location on the steep valley side. Joining the family on the rooftop terrace, used for a multitude of activities and integral to domestic life, we viewed neighbouring houses crumbling around them. Their former occupants have moved to new homes half a mile down the valley.
One of the 26 villages in the Ameln valley, with new concrete buildings neighbouring traditional pisé houses. Located at the spring line, streams flow through the villages down to fields on the valley floor.
South of the High Atlas is the fortified village (ksar) of Ait Benhaddou, a famous example of mud construction. It was established in the 11th Century during the Almoravid dynasty on the main caravan route for trade from the Sahara to Marrakesh and Fes. On the edge of the village we saw new mud blocks drying in the sun. The village has been significantly restored by Hollywood for use in films including Lawrence of Arabia, Jesus of Nazareth and Gladiator, with more recent conservation work using mud and wood since its protection as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Only four families live in the ksar today. Our local host proudly showed us his magnificent home consisting of many cool and dark small rooms over several floors, connected by narrow staircases and topped with a large flat terrace, which is used as another room. Most other locals have moved to modern houses on the opposite bank of the parched Oued (river) Ounila.
View across the merchants houses and renovated Kasbah in Ait Benhaddou towards the new village across the Ounila river
As we took the winding roads westwards to the Anti Atlas we saw many abandoned villages. Stone-walled terraces once built for crops were falling into disrepair. Our guide explained a year on year decrease in rainfall has made it hard to farm here. Rural life in Morocco is changing fast and centuries of building traditions are starting to be lost.
Form and decoration of urban houses and their courtyards
Morocco has a rich and remarkable traditional urban architecture. At the heart of cities such as Marrakech and Fes are the historic medinas - centuries-old tangles of lanes, houses, souks (markets), fondouks (inns), medersas (colleges) and mosques, with areas specialising in artisanal activities and trades.
As we discovered when wandering the myriad narrow, dark alleyways, the nature of medina houses is hidden behind high, unadorned walls. Often only doors are ornamented, and were historically made just wide enough to allow a laden donkey to enter. Windows may be absent altogether, or in secondary quarters and stairwells, with shutters or metal grilles for ventilation. House entrances are angled to maintain the family’s privacy from the public life of the street.
High walls of houses in the Mellah, the former Jewish quarter of Marrakesh
In marked contrast to this impenetrable, austere façade is the serene, often ornate and centrally-focussed interior. The most important element of Arab-Islamic buildings is the courtyard, the sacred centre, intimately linked to Islam. A dar, a modest house, is the most common type of home to be found in cities and medinas. Dars are arranged around a small, central patio without any real garden. In larger houses the flagstone courtyard is replaced by a riad, a garden crossed by two paths that divide the courtyard into four, an ancient and typical form of Islamic gardens. Mosques, caravanserais or fondouks (urban hostels for commercial travellers) and medersas (or madrasas, colleges) are also all constructed around a central courtyard onto which the principal rooms open. Providing the main source of light, it is usually open to the sky. Sometimes it might have a roof fitted with a skylight, or a roof awning. In a hammam (public baths) the courtyard is instead a central rest room.
The central courtyard of Ben Youssef Madrasa, Marrakesh
The floor plan of traditional urban family homes is much the same throughout the Magreb (northwest Africa) regardless of scale. The dry climate enables this model of inside-outside domestic life where living rooms (bayt) lead off an inner square or rectangular courtyard or garden, each room occupying one wall of the courtyard. Rooms are long rather than deep and are entered by a central doorway. Rooms may often change function and traditionally there are no doors between rooms. Opposite the entrance is the bahou – a recess built into the thickness of the wall and furnished with couches to form a day room or reception area. Staircases and service rooms like the kitchen, laundry and in wealthy households the hamman are located in the corners of buildings and near the street, whilst the largest and most ornate rooms are furthest from the entrance. In grander homes the courtyard is often surrounded by an arched colonnade, each side consisting of three arches, the central arch being higher and wider. In older houses these were constructed with straight lintels. More recent houses have pointed keel or rounded horseshoe arches. Many 19th Century properties have a first floor with a balcony or gallery that provides protection from the elements. The roof is a terrace accessed by a very narrow staircase.
The central courtyard of Dar Cherifa cafe, a restored 16th Century house in Marrakesh medina
Room interior at the Bahia Palace, Marrakech, with the bahou on the right
Whist courtyards and rooms of rural homes may be simple, city houses can be intricately decorated and in the wealthy houses and palaces we visited they are saturated with ornament. Courtyards are paved with white or grey flagstones with joints embellished with bands of multicoloured tiles. Interior floors are covered in zelliges (a mosaic of small glazed tiles). The lower section of interior walls are also decorated with zelliges and the upper part with sculpted plaster (tagguebbast). Ceilings are made of finely sculpted and painted wood. Only the middle part of interior walls is left as plain, painted white plaster.
Ornate plaster cornice and sculpted and painted wood ceiling in Palais La Médina, Fes
Sculpted plaster is also often used around doors and windows, on the inside edges of arches and for the capitals at the top of pillars. Above each door may be one or three small vaulted lattice work windows (chamachat) in carved plaster for ventilation.
Carved plaster capitals, latticework windows (chamachat) and carved painted ceiling at the Bahia Palace, Marrakesh
Zelliges and sculpted plaster designs all employ only three kinds of motifs – geometric, floral and epigraphic. Geometric designs are constructed upon repetition and symmetry. Most frequently used is the testir – interlacing radiating from a central star. Also common are muquanas, or honeycomb vaulting. Botanical and floral patterns derived from the Arab-Andalusian tradition. They are always abstract and inserted within geometric designs. A principal botanical motif is the tourik composed of interlacing flowers, foliage and palmette patterns. In epigraphic patterns (inscribed text) the most common form is cursive text. When sculpted in stone the Kufic script (ancient Arabic) is more often used.
Magnificent Muquana design in a ceiling at Bahia Palace, Marrakesh
Gardens and riads
Riads are enclosed gardens divided into four planted sectors, in the centre of which is a fountain or pool. In Fes, riads were walled gardens adjoining the grand houses and palaces, in addition to their central courtyard. They were symbols of prestige, pleasure gardens reserved for a select few. However, in Marrakesh, which has the greatest preponderance of riads, these large house-gardens were adopted as a model for living.
The principal elements of all Islamic gardens, including domestic, are water and shade. Water is a symbol of life, cools and humidfies the air and provides musical sound. A common feature in Moroccan courtyards is a centrally located marble fountain basin surrounded by tiled geometric motifs. This fountain may be protected by a kiosk or pavilion. In grand houses fountains decorated with zelliges are built against one of the courtyard walls. The parterres are set lower than paths and are planted with trees such as oranges, lemon, pomegranate and figs for shade and scented plants like mint, geranium, basil and jasmine. Plants are referenced in arabesques carved into plaster and bouquets painted onto doors. Although we often found the planting quite modest, with expanses of bare, swept soil under large trees, it is the blend of the symmetrical layout, seclusion, ornamentation of buildings and paving that makes these riad gardens so cohesive and atmospheric. Stepping off the shadowy streets, through a narrow entrance into these light-filled spaces is exotic and magical.
Sunken quadrants of the riad garden at the Bahia Palace, Marrakesh
Le Jardin Secret, Marrakesh, a newly created garden in a 19th Century riad, with a central kiosk over the fountain
Centuries of urban architecture traditions changed when Morocco was a French protectorate from 1912 until 1956. During this time the French built new suburbs – the Villes Nouvelles – in all the main cities. Hubert Lyautey, Resident-General of the Protectorate from 1912 to 1925, sought to protect existing towns from the rapid spread of Western modernity and set up the Service des Artes Indigenes to restore major traditional buildings and protect and promote traditional crafts. Financial energies were however concentrated in the Villes Nouvelles, with buildings with monumental facades and boulevards laid out in a grid pattern. These were in total contrast to the medina’s narrow streets dedicated to a particular craft or commerce and focus around courtyards and gardens, which were left to decline. Many Moroccans moved into flats and villas in the new suburbs.
Alongside this, some French and other wealthy Europeans were drawn to the idea of ‘oriental living’ and traditional Moroccan embellishment. This began to lead to the restoration of many old houses and the construction of new ones inspired by traditional forms and prompted a renaissance of craft and decoration, particularly in Tangier and Marrakesh, a practice also later adopted by middle class Moroccans. The designation of medinas such as Fes and Marrakesh as UNESCO World Heritage sites identified their vulnerability to demographic change and is helping to ensure their protection and management. During our visit last year we saw significant restoration work had been undertaken in Marrakesh since our last visit in 2013.
Morocco is a beguiling place with an amazing architectural tradition. The universal inter-relation of buildings and their outdoor spaces is a synthesis of environment and culture. Traditional rural houses are completely of their place, made from the soil and designed for the climate, and in places, sadly crumbling back into the earth from which they were formed. Courtyard houses of the medinas exhibit remarkable similarity of form and design of ornament, yet each we visited provided an overwhelmingly atmospheric environment, where interior and outdoor spaces are intimately linked.
Further reading:
Verner, C: Villas and Courtyard Houses of Morocco, 2005, Thames & Hudson
Santelli, S : “On Islamic Architecture in Morocco” in Lovatt-Smith, L. Moroccan Interiors, 1995, Taschen
