op marroc 20080215en - rehabimed · analysis of construction and structural elements although quite...

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3.1. Sidi Bel Abbes house

Number 13, derb Taht Khachba, zaouia Abassia district

location

Situated in the north of the medina, the house forms part of a series of properties adjoining the zaouia of Sidi Bel Abbes.

North of the house is the esplanade of the zaouia, the tomb of the saint and the cemetery of Sidi Bel Abbes, which stands at the centre of the district. To the south is a housing district built against the old Almoravid rampart that has been included in the city but whose layout is still visible in the plot division. The route from the zaouia to the medina leads through the draper’s souk; it is a street enclosed by arches and bordered by arcades that protect the artisan’s shops.

history

Sidi Bel Abbes is the only example of the city’s extension beyond the Almoravid ramparts. It was the Alaouite Sultan, Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah (1757-1790), who built ramparts around this district, which developed mainly at the time of the Saadi sultans (notably Abou Fares). In the panoramic view of Marrakech proposed

by the Danish consul Host in 1768, the district is shown surrounded by ramparts. The report by Paul Lambert also confirms that the work was carried out by this sultan and can be dated to the beginning of his reign, circa 1760. The district of fine residences adjoining the zaouia of Sidi Bel Abbes, including the house chosen for the RehabiMed project, may have formed part of the project to revitalize the zaouia and integrate it into the urban perimeter protected by the ramparts. The construction of the complex of buildings that now form the zaouia of Sidi Bel Abbes (mausoleum, mosque, madrassa,

3. The pilot operation in Marrakech.

Rehabilitation and social action

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3. The pilot operation in Marrakech. Rehabilitation and social action

hammam, etc.) is also attributed to Sultan Sidi Muhammad Ben Abdallah. The house can probably therefore be dated to the late 18th century.

socio-economic analysis

Owner: HabousInhabitants: 7 dwellings and 37 peopleTypology: traditional house with an unplanted courtyard (Dar)Particularity: independent douirya Construction date (estimated): 18th centuryUseful surface area: 162 m²Number of floors: GF + 1st floor + terrace-roofBearing system: Uprights and beams in the courtyard and bearing wall on the exteriorOriginal materials: Earth, brick, timber, glazed tiles and lime-earth mortarAdded materials: Concrete, concrete block and cement rendering Facilities: a single toilet, no water (supply cut off due to unpaid bills) and existence of an electricity system (outdated installation) / 2 meters.

architectural and architectonic analysis

This is a courtyard house with a douirya (small house) situated on the first floor, a classic configuration in Marrakech. The house, laid out around its inner

courtyard, was accessible only to members of the family; the master of the house had the douirya to himself. This independent apartment in which he received guests on professional or private visits had its own stairway, entrance to which stood in the winding corridor that protects the house from curious eyes. Today, the opening up of a new entrance to this stairway on the main street meant that the old douirya could be converted into a completely independent apartment. Only the terrace-roofs remain communal. The most convenient entrance is that of the douirya (an open staircase); two other entrances to the house comprise simple pieces of timber anchored in a corner formed by two walls, leading to a trapdoor. The douirya overhangs the winding entrance hall (housing the only WC) and a wide section of the street. To cover the street and provide a plinth for the apartment, five fired-brick arches were built. They are joined to the ends by two groined vaults that support the rooms on the first floor, with barrel vaults at the centre that join the arches supporting the wast ed-dar of the douirya.

The actual house is built on two floors. The first floor, partially covering the shops in the main street, has a larger useful surface area than the ground floor. A stairway in the corner of the courtyard leads to the

gallery, which, on the first floor, provides access to the various rooms. The gallery, only enclosed on three sides of the wast ed-dar, is completed by a trompe-l’œil effect on the party wall that closes in the courtyard on its fourth side. The architecture of these galleries, comprising square pillars that support broad timber lintels on both levels, is typical of Arabo-Andalusian heritage. This is a typical late example of the evolution of the architectural model that developed in the western Mediterranean.

analysis of construction and structural elements

Although quite old (almost 250 years old), the construction is in a good state of repair. The walls are built of fired bricks bound with lime and cement mortar. The ceilings are mostly visible (particularly in the galleries), comprising rafters and cedar boarding (warka or geizat). As cedar was quite rare and expensive in the Marrakech region, particularly at the time of construction, the house was probably built for a wealthy family that could at least afford to have cedar transported from the Middle Atlas. The horizontal bearing structures were built of floor slabs consolidated by lime. The terraces were made waterproof by compacting lime into the slab, maintaining the slopes to

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allow rainwater to drain into the streets. On the first floor, the gallery is surrounded by a few remaining elements of timber railings (meshrebeeyeh). The lintels were protected by a projection of tiles (three courses) that frames the courtyard.

Pathology

It is difficult to check the structure and the state of conservation of the foundations in an old inhabited house. The bearing walls did not seem to present any major cracking or any greater degradation than differential settlement.

There were several cracks in the façades in the street and the derb. These superficial fissures only affected the rendering. Other cracking in the corners is the sign of poor cohesion of construction materials.

The floor of the entrance hallway was beaten earth. The floor of the courtyard had been patched up with cement. The walls and pillars were affected by rising damp that was causing the bricks and bonding agents to break up. The renderings were coming away from the masonry and no longer provided protection. Poor restoration of masonry and renderings had weakened the wall structure, particularly in the entrance corridor and the west wall beneath the gallery.


Construction system

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The walls of the bedrooms had been repaired many times, rendered with different materials and textures. The problems were however superficial and limited to secondary cracking that affected the plaster coat, except the southern bearing wall adjacent to the ruined neighbouring house, the piled-up rubble of which pressed against it causing capillary percolation.

The joist and batten-board floors in the entrance and the entire west gallery had been damaged by fire, and the timber elements were no longer solid.

The cedar overhangs supporting the structural first floor were becoming detached in places and cracking due to the effects of insolation and precipitation.

The open spaces between the pillars in the north and south galleries had been sealed up by pseudo-partition walls of reed and plaster, preventing ventilation of the internal spaces and producing condensation that was harmful to the timber in the floor and renderings.

On the first floor, the walls and pillars in the galleries had cracked render coats. Some of the balustrades were about to fall over due to damage to the timber. The awning that covered the courtyard was


Study for the fitting out of spaces

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much deteriorated and many of the tiles were loose.

On the roof terraces, the waterproofing layer was full of cracks. Cement patches not bonded to the original waterproof lime had produced leaks in the first floor ceiling.

rehabilitation work

Initial work concentrated on consolidating the building’s bearing structures and waterproofing the terrace-roofs. The floor slabs had to be removed from the bearing structures, some bearing logs replaced and then the traditional slabs rebuilt using reeds, earth and tamped lime. In some of the old ceilings built using the warka or geizat system, it was necessary to replace boards that were rotten beneath coats of paint and the accumulated soot, then rework the traditional slab system (earth and tamped lime).

A protective parapet was built on the wall that juts out over the street. It was rendered and painted in the same colour as the existing wall. The parapet wall in the courtyard was completely restored and slightly raised as a safety measure. The row of tiles protecting the timber lintels was replaced.

The water supply system and the drainage network were completely replaced. Two toilets were installed in the entrance hall. All the sanitary installations were clad with white earthenware tiles. The house’s electricity supply was completely renewed with at least one lighting point and one socket per dwelling.

The first floor balustrade was completely restored. Wood mamounis or trellis screens were proposed to restore a little privacy between the dwellings on the galleries, replacing the makeshift structures that had been put up.

In the inhabited rooms, the renderings were repaired and the floors of the communal areas were laid with cement tiles.


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During works

Before works

After works


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3.2. Hart Soura house

Numbers 5 and 6, derb Darqaoua, Hart Soura district

location

Situated in the most central part of the medina, this house stands at the end of a short cul-de-sac or derb that bears the name of an important religious brotherhood. The house is in the immediate vicinity of Ben Youssef madrassa and the central Ben Youssef mosque, oft modified and rebuilt, that bears the name of the Almoravid sultan. The entrance to the derb is from a main street linking the small square in front of Hart Soura mosque to the Ahl Fes street and the rear of the madrassa.

history

The Hart Soura district is one of the oldest in the medina. As is often the case, the district is named after the mosque. Soura was the sister of Sultan Ali Ben Youssef, son of Youssef ben Tachefine who is said to be the founder of Marrakech. Even today, Ben Youssef mosque, like the famous Saadi madrassa nearby, bears the name of the builder of the mosque which has marked the district’s urban fabric. It is almost certain that the original urban centre stood here. It is at the foot

of Ali Ben Youssef mosque that the first public fountain stood and the first latrines connected to the first khettaras (underground drain) were built.

This house stands at the end of a short cul-de-sac or derb that bears the name Derkaoua, an important religious brotherhood in Morocco and North Africa as a whole. Did it serve as a zaouia, as present-day occupants and local people claim? There are no documents to prove this, but we adopted the opinion of local residents and consider it was so.


Owner: Habous / Heirs / OwnerInhabitants: 11 dwellings, 49 peopleTypology: traditional courtyard house (riad)Particularities: Two stone domes and some arcades Contemporary extensionsConstruction date (estimated): 16th-17th centuriesUseful surface area: 428 m²Number of floors: GF + mezzanine + 1st floor + terrace-roofBearing system: bearing wallsOriginal materials: Brick, timber, glazed tiles and lime-earth mortarAdded materials: Concrete block and cement render coat

Facilities: there are six sanitary installations (five private); three taps (one private) and an electricity network.


It is a house with a wast ed-dar, surrounded on three sides by rooms, with a douiryas (small house) on the first floor. The complex is rather spoiled by recent subdivisions and has probably been considerably modified over the centuries, making it difficult to reconstitute the original structure. Was it laid out as a riad (house around a garden) or as a dar (house around a non-planted courtyard)? The size of the wast ed-dar would seem to suggest the former. It was traditional to plant the interior of houses in Marrakech and many riads have been inventoried in far smaller courtyards than this.

On the north and south sides, two facing galleries acted as anterooms to the larger rooms. The main room occupies the north side. Though it has been subdivided, its great height is apparent. It opened up onto the galleries via a large opening protected by a r’taj door (exterior hinges). The room is spanned by a dome of fired bricks, rendered and decorated with coloured lines and sculpted plaster medallions enhanced with bright colours. The lines and facets that form this dome


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Analysis of spaces and heritage elements


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accentuate the geometry of an upside-down hull. This type of decoration, still found today in many of the city’s houses and in the Berber constructions in the mountains, seems to be characteristic of traditional architecture in southern Morocco. But this decoration is often merely a construction of gypsum over a reed structure, used to highlight a real dome. The use of brick vaults and domes to cover spaces was probably more common at a time when the Marrakech region did not have access to construction timber and the transport of cedar was difficult and dangerous.

In the south side, the remains of the former sculpted timber decoration crown the central arch of a gallery. Although the whole is rather run-down, it is evidently inspired by Arabo-Andalusian decoration. The sides of the wast ed-dar are more difficult to analyse. One gallery seems to have been walled up. A neighbouring construction occupies the centre of the west side up to the terrace level. analysis of construction and structural elements

The construction elements denote an ancient style and bear witness to the building’s age. This is the case particularly of the fired-brick vaults that form the

dome of the large hall (opposite the entrance). The dome is waterproofed with dess. The state of this work, which has evidently received no maintenance in decades, is proof of the quality of construction work and the care taken by its builders.

High quality finishes are also found in the arches forming the galleries, and great care was taken in the choice of the timber logs covering the first floor, the house’s former lofts.

Despite the run-down appearance of the whole, now subdivided and disfigured by parasitic constructions, the old construction and structural elements have retained their bearing qualities, though they do require serious maintenance work.

Pathology

The antiquity of the house and the quality of the materials used testify to the quality of the construction.

The only exterior façade of the house overlooking the derb had been given a cement render coat and did not present any structural defects. The arches over the alleyway, however, were in danger of falling down.

Inside the house, some stretches of wall and pillars presented signs of rising damp near floor level, affecting the bonding of the masonry.

The only defects in the four façades of the courtyard were in the renderings.

Whitish stains on the vault in the old main hall were apparently caused by rainwater seepage.

The walls of mezzanines three and six were the most affected by rising damp. The render coats were coming away and the bonding mortars no longer held the masonry in place. Some ceilings had been replaced by plastic sheeting.

On the terrace floors, the deterioration of the waterproofing work had led to seepage.

The structure of the stairways was weakened throughout (the timber supporting the structure and masonry), with cracking in the dess render coats. The nosing of the steps had been worn away in places.

rehabilitation workThe first step was to negotiate, family by family, dwelling by dwelling, the restructuring and redistribution of spaces available to free up the central


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courtyard (wast ed-dar) of the parasitic constructions that had been built there. This involved some difficult choices with regard to heritage in order to improve living conditions without in any way reducing what were already very small private spaces.

Section by section, the bearing structures had to be consolidated and the waterproofing work of the terrace-roofs restored.

The floor slabs were removed from the bearing structures, some bearing logs were replaced and then the traditional floors were rebuilt using reeds, earth and tamped lime.

The mezzanines were rearranged or enlarged. A stairway was rebuilt for greater ease of access to hitherto unused rooms at roof level to make up for the loss of habitable spaces in the courtyard.

The water mains system was completely replaced, as was the drainage network.

The main problem presented by the rehabilitation of this house was how to find a way of piping sewerage to the public drainage network. The level of the courtyard was 80 cm below the level of the service pipe in Derqaoua derb. Various

solutions were considered: placing the sanitary installations on the upper floors, near the front door, or connecting the house to public networks in other streets. Test boring was carried out on some neighbouring properties. The final solution was to raise the level of the courtyard by about one metre and build a communal prefabricated plumbing unit independently of the traditional structures.

The electrical power supply was entirely renovated to provide at least one lighting point and one socket per dwelling.

The render coats were reapplied in all the inhabited rooms.

The floors of the communal areas were laid with cement tiles.

A sunken garden was created in the middle of the courtyard to maintain the greenery within the complex and protect the existing tree.


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During works

Before works

After works


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3.3. House in the Mellah

Numbers 21 and 22, derb zamrane, Mellah district

location

This house is situated in the old Jewish quarter of Marrakech. It presents a quite different set of characteristics to the preceding houses. Like the street and the district in which it stands, it is far more recent than houses 1 and 2.

One of the first interventions of the Saadi sultans in the city of Marrakech was the creation of a Jewish quarter, set apart from the rest of the medina. The district, which later acquired the name Mellah, stands to the south of the medina and to the east of the casbah, “near Bab Aghmat, so that the Jews were separated from the Moors” (Marmol, Descripción general de Africa, Grenade, 1573, p. 59). The house is situated in the east of the Jewish quarter and was probably part of an extension built in the late 19th century. It is laid out along a north-south line that represents the traditional separation between the area of housing in the east, the cemetery (mihara) and the gardens adjacent to the district (Jnane el Afia), on the west side.

The north is taken up by the main part of

the district with its swastika floor plan and its straight-lined streets.

In the south, the district of Berrima stands around the mosque of the same name (1852).

history

While the Saadi Sultan Moulay Abdallah allocated a vast tract of land east of the casbah to the Jews, the parcelling of the central Mellah district, as it appears today, probably dates from the middle of the 19th century, with east- and westward extensions built some 40 years later.

It was in around 1557-1558 that, according to Jewish tradition, Rabbi Mardochée b. ‘Attar was commissioned by the new sultan to supervise the works. The date 1562-1563, given by Ifrânî, corresponds to the end of work.

The Mellah had two entrances: “The Jewish quarter surrounded by walls with two gateways: one led to its own land and the other, communicating with the city, was flanked by guards. By way of population it had some 6,000 people and many synagogues.”

In the notes that accompany his engraving, Adriaen Matham also mentions

the Mellah: “In the city there is a place for the Jews, where they all live together, surrounded by a wall which is closed, mainly at night; and this place is so large around that it could in its own right pass as a rather considerable town...” (Adriaen Matham, “Palatium magni regis Maroci in Barbaria”, engraving, 1646, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.)

The population of the Mellah progressed slowly after the Saadi period. From 500 inhabitants in 1666, it grew to 2,000 in 1804, 6,000 in 1867 and 14,000 in the early 20th century. Furthermore, in 1890 the Sultan gave the Jewish community land to extend a quarter where the inhabitants were too cramped. Three hundred new houses were built there: “Moulay Hassan [...] extended the limits of their Mellah, with the walls around it. Henceforth they enclosed, to the west, a former piece of wasteland which, divided among various notables, was built with tall houses to form the Mellah Jedid quarter; to the east, the kitchen garden of Jnan el Afia, still known now as ‘La Bira’, was occupied by the poor population.” These extensions can be seen in the plot division of the quarter on the photogrammetric map made in 1987.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Jews left Morocco’s old mellahs en masse to emigrate to Israel. Today, there are only


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in the region of 300 Jews in Marrakech as opposed to the almost 15,000 who lived there 100 years ago. Most of the abandoned houses were recovered or squatted by poor Muslim families, making the district one of the poorest in the medina. Today, projects are being studied to renovate the district, now renamed Hay Salam.


Address: Derb zamrane, no. 21/22, Hay Essalam (Mellah), BahiaOwner: Private (zina) Inhabitants: 13 dwellings; 62 peopleTypology: traditional Jewish house with an unplanted courtyard (Dar) with douiryaParticularity: private property (zina)Construction date (estimated): late 19th centuryUseful surface area: 490 m²Number of floors: GF + 1st floor + roof terraceBearing system: uprights and beams for the courtyard and bearing walls in the exteriorOriginal materials: Brick, timber, glazed tiles and lime-earth mortarAdded materials: cement renderingFacilities: two sanitary installations, no water (supply cut off due to unpaid bills) and an outdated electricity network with a meter


The site comprises a house with wast ed-dar and a small annexed dwelling at the rear of the courtyard. The entrance is at the corner in keeping with the classical distribution of houses in Morocco, both in the context of the medina and in the rural world. All the rooms on the ground and first floors open up onto the courtyard. Very recent partition walls have been built in the galleries to create private exterior spaces in front of the numerous dwellings created by the subdivision of this former patrician dwelling.

The current state of the house is a perfect example of the transformation by means of successive divisions of old residences and riads in the medina. The phenomenon of overcrowding and pauperisation of traditional heritage spaces can be found all over the medina.

There are no major differences between traditional Jewish and Muslim houses in the medina. They have the same structure on the ground floor and a first floor surrounded by galleries leading into living spaces. They employ the same materials and decorations of capitals and lintels and false lintels (lizar). The motifs in the railings of the first floor galleries perhaps take their inspiration more from European models

(turned/symbolized balustrades) than the traditional meshrebeeyeh screens.

The specificity of the Mellah in architectural terms lies rather in the form of the streets and alleyways, and in the use of windows and balconies onto the street, totally absent from Muslim quarters.

analysis of construction and structural elements

The construction system is characteristic of the late 19th century. The walls are mostly built of fired-brick masonry with thick joints of lime and cement mortar. The galleries are supported by round-section masonry columns. These graceful columns represent a simplification of the traditional model of octagonal pillars, probably in a reference to the marble columns of the classic Arabo-Andalusian constructions. Their relative fragility has caused obvious problems, requiring consolidation in the form of common-brick supports in parts of the gallery.

Some ceilings are built of logs and reeds and then plastered. Others are made of painted warka or geizat, probably made of cedar, though fir began to be imported in the second half of the 19th century.


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The terraces are waterproofed by floor slabs consolidated with lime. The current slopes are exaggerated and denote the superposition of successive layers whose weight could be a danger in the absence of maintenance to structures that were not designed to bear these loads.

Overall, the house is not in danger of collapse, but serious replacement and consolidation work is necessary to the horizontal structures.

Pathology

The extent of rising damp in the walls on the ground floor, caused by the absence of a drainage network, raised some doubts as to the state of the foundations. Existing cracking only seemed to affect the rendering, however, and the general state of the bearing structures seemed quite satisfactory.

In the part of the façade around the main door, some lime rendering had become detached and there were signs of capillary action. The other part had been given a new cement render coat, but the problem of rising damp persists and is attacking the wall.

The biggest problem on the ground floor was the damp in the walls, producing

major damage to the render coats, which are all detached or crumbling, and the masonry. All of the floors were damaged and patched.

On the first floor, the floors were damaged. The rendering of walls and pillars in the galleries was cracked. The gypsum ceilings had largely fallen in, revealing much weakened structures.

The wrought-iron and timber balustrades were dislodged from their housing, particularly in the north-east corner, and were in danger of falling.

On the roof terraces, the slope form had subsided and was marked by deep cracks. The waterproofing work was damaged and the slopes were misshapen by subsidence, causing puddles to form.

The stairs to the first floor had been rebuilt in cement. The treads, risers and timber nosing were all in a state of collapse.

rehabilitation work

Work began by waterproofing the terrace-roofs. The floor slabs had to be removed from the bearing structures, some bearing logs replaced and then the traditional slabs rebuilt using reeds, earth and tamped lime, restoring the

Spatial analysis of the house


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slope to drain runoff towards the street. A parapet was built for extra safety above the wall jutting out over the street, the neighbouring property to the south and the ruined building to the west. It was rendered and painted the same colour as the existing wall. The parapet above the courtyard was fully restored and slightly raised as a safety measure. The row of tiles protecting the timber lintels was rebuilt in the traditional style of houses in the Medina of Marrakech.

On the first floor, some rooms were completely restored and their false ceilings of gypsum rebuilt.

Work on the ground floor involved consolidating the bearing structures and restoring the uniformity of the supports (columns beneath the gallery in the courtyard), some of which had been rebuilt using solid masonry units.

The water system was completely refitted, as was the drainage network. Toilets were installed on the ground floor and terrace level. These sanitary installations were tiled with white earthenware.

The electrical power supply was entirely renovated to provide at least one lighting point and one socket per dwelling.

The render coats were reapplied in all the inhabited rooms.

The floors of the communal areas were laid with cement tiles.

The balustrade on the first floor was restored, as were some especially damaged items of joinery. Wood mamounis or trellis screens were proposed to restore a little privacy between the dwellings on the galleries, replacing the makeshift structures that occupants had put up. Mamounis were also installed on the ground floor to separate the communal spaces from the different dwellings.


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During works

Before works

After works


op marroc 20080215en - rehabimed · analysis of construction and structural elements although quite...

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