Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Amine Houari
Carried out between 2010 and 2019, the project transformed a severely degraded riverside area into a multifunctional urban node designed to encourage pedestrian circulation.
Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Amine Houari
The zellige tile patterns, designed by British artist Michael Pinsky, serve both aesthetic and navigational functions. These motifs appear on both banks of the river, helping to orient visitors and subtly signalling the continuity of the intervention across the site.
Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Amine Houari
The medieval bridge together with three newly constructed pedestrian footbridges serve the purpose of linking the two banks, creating as many crossing opportunities as possible and reinforcing physical connectivity.
Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Amine Houari
Located in the historical medina of Fez, Lalla Yeddouna Square covers approximately 7400 m² along the Bou Khrareb river. The rehabilitation project aimed to revive the economic prospects in the medina, and enhance the living conditions of its inhabitants, especially by reconnecting the square to the riverfront.
Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Amine Houari
Spaces between buildings were intentionally designed with the idea of "sculpting the void", to create public spaces that encourage human flow and interaction.
Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Amine Houari
The textile workshop in one of the renovated blocks on the western bank of the river. The project involved working with local artisans, as well as the British artist Michael Pinsky, who created colourful tiling in a series of courtyards. The contemporary patterns are a creative interpretation of the traditional Fez zellige.
Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Amine Houari
Located in the historical medina of Fez, Lalla Yeddouna Square covers approximately 7,400 m² along the Bou Khrareb river. The project included the rehabilitation of the historic Bin Lamdoun Bridge.
Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Amine Houari
Photograph of the area before conservation and renovation works.
Mossessian Architecture / Yassir Khalil Studio
Pottery quarter. The project includes workspaces, galleries and trading spaces for local artisans, in line with national and regional efforts to develop the craft economy.
Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Amine Houari
Architectural drawing: typical block section.
Mossessian Architecture / Yassir Khalil Studio
Architectural drawing: site plan.
Mossessian Architecture / Yassir Khalil Studio
Revitalisation of Lalla Yeddouna Square
Award Cycle: 2023-2025 Cycle
Status: Shortlisted
Country of origin: Morocco
Location: Fez, Morocco
Client: Agency for the Dedensification and Rehabilitation of the Fez Medina (ADER-Fez)
Architect: Mossessian Architecture, London, UK and Yassir Khalil Studio, Casablanca
Completed: 2019
Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Fez’s medina is among the world’s largest. A 2011 international design competition for its regeneration elicited 1,400 expressions of interest. The winning project’s strategy, unanimously endorsed by locals, was to reconnect Lalla Yeddouna Square to the riverfront, creating a pedestrian route across the river and through the Medina’s rich urban labyrinth, while providing spaces for artisans and educational programmes, shops, eateries, nursery, women’s centre, tourist information centre, post office and fire station.
The historic bridge and 11 existing buildings were rehabilitated, and nine new buildings (including a hotel for artists-in-residence) erected. Historical references were preserved while using contemporary thinking with traditional building techniques, including passive climate control through massing and shading. Colourful tilework, designed by a British artist and made locally, evolves upwards from echoes of Fez’s 1,500-year zelige tradition to Spanish patterns and finally a frank contemporary interpretation as signage for each artisan.