Marrakech - The Unexpected Building

The Hotel Kasbar and Spa is a relatively new hotel on the outskirts of Marrakech and one place I had never expected to visit. A volcanic cloud from Iceland introduced us. This is a building designed for the holiday maker, and the luxury holiday maker at that. It is a place for relaxing and indulging. Unfortunately the spa part was still under contruction, during our stay. The hotel echoing the features of Moroccan design with the house built around a pool and most, but not all, balconied rooms opening out towards it








Experiencing a type of holiday I was unfamiliar with, I firstly set out to show the pool area, which seemed the hub of life in the hotel and I chose to show it at night. Following that I observed the culture of the sun lounger and the towel. There seemed something uniform, yet a little odd about staking claim to a peice of basket work.

The House in the Medina

Another traditional Moroccan house, but used for an entirely different purpose. This house is used to provide physiotherapy for children with physical and mental handicaps. The ground floor is the treatment and physio space, with over 100 children regularly attending the centre. The upper rooms are for training purposes. As the center seeks to train its staff to care for the children, by bringing in experts from other countries. Because of the nature of the house design, this center is about protection, community and inclusion.

During the time I was in Morocco, the center was closed. This was due to the current religious climate within the country and the association felt they needed to take time aside. I was all the more keen to photograph a building that had a clearly defined and needed purpose, while the building, I hope temporarily, was prevented from fulfilling that. Was it possible to show evidence of human activity and highlight the need for greater tolerance?

Railway Station Morocco

A place for arriving and departing . Trains pull in, people wait to climb aboard. The building is designed to be functional. It gives people the space to wait and effective access to the train when, and if, it arrives.

Because of the nature of trains and their need for parallel lines in order to function properly, I became fasinated with linear. So in these images I looked for lines. The trains line primarily, but I also used the tile lines decorating the platform, vertical pillars holding up the roof and the row of uniform seats. Everything pointing to the linear nature of the journey.

Cafe Clock Fez

Cafe Clock Fez

Cafe Clock is a restored 250 year old courtyard house on the edge of the old medina in Fez. Traditional moroccan houses looked inwards, based around a square, which would tend to be open to the sky. All other important rooms are then situated around the four sides of the courtyard, while the courtyard itself would be the focus to every day life, which lots of daily tasks taking place in the inside, outside space. Cool and protected from the bussle from outside!!

The restored cafe takes these elements into its life, with the central courtyard the hub of eating, chatting and discussion, while the many rooms and spaces surrounding it providing quiet spaces to meet, mingle, romanitcise or find quiet space to think and work.

In photographing the place, I simply tried to show its different purposes, by finding people in spaces doing what the spaces were designed for. The challenge was photographing in challenging light and realising, just how strong the sunlight can be in Morrocco in mid April. This location would be interesting to photograph over the course of a day, in order to take account of the light, but perhaps the varied moods of the cafe too!

Buildings in Use

This building was built by Moulay Ismail as a grain store to feed his 12 000 horses. The granaries have massive walls and tiny windows, effectively creating cool storage conditions. On entering the building there is a remarkable, and welcome, change in temperature compared to the heat outside, while the small windows, mixed with display lighting, create an inviting and intriguing fall of light. As an effective and well designed building, the

grain store fits its purpose. The grain store and ajacent stables are now a tourist attraction and in recent years have also become a film location, most notably for The Last Temptation of Christ.

It was the coolness of the building, the huge arch openings and the shades of light and shadow, that I found fasinating and wanted to capture as an image. Wanting to show the vastness of the place, I used the arches and large doorways to create a sense of repitition - as if looking into a mirror and seeing an infinite number of images.