Page 101 - AIT0325_E-Paper

Entwurf • Design Leopold Banchini Architects, CH-Lancy
Bauherr • Client privat
Standort • Location MA-Marrakesch
Foto: Dylan Perrenoud
Nutzfläche • Floor space 115 m 2
Fotos • Photos Rory Gardiner
Mehr Infos auf Seite • More info on page 118

DAR EL FARINA

IN MARRAKESH

How much is enough? Whatever the location has to offer
as to history, art, craftsmanship, tradition and landscape,
not to mention magic and atmosphere, is always more
than enough for Leopold Banchini Architects. The space
is created from the location’s DNA and by working with
the resources available, both human and material. A little
goes a long way. And in the end, a fantastic house.

T he Haouz plain, which extends between Marrakesh and the High
Atlas Mountains, has been cultivated for thousands of years by
means of an ingenious irrigation system. Dar El Farina – which means
“house of flour” in Arabic – is an allusion to the region’s agricultural
tradition, particularly to the cultivation of wheat and barley. Two supply
systems intersect at this very point, the mesref, a superficial channel for
agricultural irrigation, and the khetara, an underground gallery system
that had been developed by the Almoravid dynasty in the 11th century
to transport groundwater through the desert to Marrakech. The house
Grundriss • Floor plan divides the land into two radically different landscapes. On one side,
the desertic land is kept untouched; on the other side, a lush green
garden of indigenous plants grows thanks to the ancestral water system.
The house unites two spatial dimensions. The linearity of the irrigation
systems and the focus on an intimate, protected interior. Line and point.
A linear patio house – perhaps one or, better still, the new archety-
pe of living. Two massive rammed-earth walls form the backbone of
the design and enclose rooms, patios and water basins in a rhythmic
Schnitt • Section sequence. The lofty volumes of the skylights protect against the inten-
se Moroccan sun and are reflected in their interior twin space. Eve-
rything is in flux, large swing doors rhythmize the space, and the archaic
volumes are lined up in a tactful and intimate way. It is fascinating
how Banchini Architects superimpose and interweave different levels
of meaning and action – here, architecture is understood as a form of
social, collaborative action and building, the expertise and experience
Ansicht • Elevation of local architects and craftsmen is valued and is a tangible part of the
“total work of art”. The four elements – fire, water, earth, air – are an
existential part of Dar El Farina, a structural homage to the magic of the
universe and of “enough”, of sufficiency. The off-grid house makes use
of the sun, the ground and the locally available water to be completely
self-sufficient. And it opens up a new world. Entering the house through
the only opening on one side, the Garden of Eden, also known as Para-
Deckenspiegel • Reflected ceiling plan dise, reveals itself through several openings on the other side.

AIT 3.2025 • 101