Completed in 2019 in Idelsane, Morocco. Images by Thomas Noceto, John Silvertand, Jolien Bosmans, Margot Lambrechts, Tinne Beirinckx, Sofie Van den Velde, Cinzia Romanin. Text by Hannah Van Breen. In Ouled Merzoug, a small earthen village near the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, a piece of land was offered by the community...
“ The Women’s House is entered through a central meeting place, a public heart, the ‘cour’. The ‘cour’ connects the two volumes of the house: a workshop space, the ‘atelier des femmes’ and a communal baking house, the ‘boulangerie commune’. The ‘atelier’ is a place for meeting, teaching and learning, spinning and weaving. In the ‘boulangerie’ the women can enjoy sharing meals together, bake and sell homemade bread and pastries. Whereas the center of the building is the most public, the ends are the most private. Each volume gives access to an intimate garden. Apart from being areas for leisure and resting, the gardens are designed and furnished to enhance the program of the adjacent spaces. The large sink on the bench of the ‘atelier’ garden makes it possible for the women to wash and color wool. In the cob oven in the ‘boulangerie’ garden, women can experiment with new recipes.
Maximizing the use of local and natural materials and minimizing the amount of construction waste, were taken as base principles in this project. For the envelope of the building, pieces of granite rock were dug out from the surrounding hills. The inner walls are made out of adobe bricks. While the roof span of the building is based upon the maximum length of the eucalyptus beams that can be found on the local market, the ceiling is made out of a reed that grows in the ‘Palmeraie’. As for the finishing of the walls and floors, different mixes of local earth, river sand, lime, and straw are used. By the virtue of the close collaboration between skilled local workers and foreign architects, and thereby the confrontation of traditional and new building techniques, it was possible to reinvent and explore new construction details during the building process.”
