On a desert plot in the Haouz plain, a landscape tamed for thousands of years in Marrakech, Leopold Banchini Architects designed Dar El Farina, a linear rural house that follows the lines of the historical vital infrastructures (characteristic of the area), such as the mesrefs and the khetaras.

The proposal creates a shaded refuge in the desert, defined by its thick earthen walls, its meticulous control of light and the microclimate created by the different water elements and the presence of vegetation.

The project divides the land into two landscapes. One that remains intact, desert and the other radically opposite full of green native plants that comprise a lush garden, the house is managed in a self-sustaining way in its environment, using the sun, soil and water available around it as tools that generate an interesting set of different domestic spaces within it.

The proposal by Leopold Banchini Architects, which redefines the ancestral typology of houses with courtyards, proposes a habitable structure in constant change using large doors to divide or connect the aligned composition of spaces housed in the house, blurring the boundaries between the interior and the exterior, giving rise to a succession of aligned spaces, bathed in intense sunlight, which is filtered, tinted or conducted through different skylights or small openings.

The house is built following traditional construction methods that vary depending on the chosen solution. While the enclosures and floors are defined from compacted earth, the zenith openings and ceilings are covered with tiles produced in a neighbouring village, highlighting the use of the material that surrounds the work as a sensitive and conscious solution that values ​​craftsmanship and traditional techniques.

Dar El Farina by Leopold Banchini Architects. Photograph by Rory Gardiner.

Dar El Farina by Leopold Banchini Architects. Photograph by Rory Gardiner.

Project description by Leopold Banchini Architects

Two vital infrastructures cross this desertic plot in the plain of Haouz. The first one, a mesref, is a small water channel filled a few times per year for agricultural purposes thanks to a complex network of canals flowing from the high Atlas. The second, a khetara, is an underground draining gallery built by the Almoravid one thousand years ago to bring water to Marrakesh from distant groundwater. Although mostly invisible, water is an important part of this dry landscape. Humans have domesticated the plain for thousands of years, irrigating and dividing the fields with endless rammed earth walls.

Dar El Farina is a linear rural house following the two lines of the mesref and the khetara. The house 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 systems. The off-grid house uses the sun, the soil and the water available onsite to be fully self-sustainable.

Dar El Farina by Leopold Banchini Architects. Photograph by Rory Gardiner.
Dar El Farina by Leopold Banchini Architects. Photograph by Rory Gardiner.

The two parallel rammed earth walls defining the domestic space host a succession of rooms, patios and water basins. The harsh sunlight enters the spaces through defined openings and skylights in the ceiling. Large pivot doors allow to divide or connect the enfilade of spaces and blur the boundary between interiors and exteriors. The constantly evolving living structure redefines the ancestral and introverted patio house typology.

While the walls and floors are simply made of compressed soil, the zenithal openings in the ceiling are lined with colorful zellige tiles produced in a neighboring village. The traditional glazing tints the sunrays entering the house before they bounce on the water surfaces. The thick mud walls, controlled sunlight, water features and vegetation create a cool microclimate; a shaded shelter in the desert.

More information

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Architects
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Project team
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Local architect.- Sana Nabaha.

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Dates
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2024

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Location
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Marrakesh, Morocco.

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Photography
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Leopold Banchini was born in Geneva in 1981 and is an architect graduated from the EPFL (Ecole Polytechinique Fédérale de Lausanne). He is also Master in Architecture from the University of Lausanne (2007) and graduate of the Glasgow School of Art (2004).

Is a visiting professor in the HEAD (Haute Ecole de Design et) in Geneva since 2010 and Assistant Professor at the EPFL since 2009. He has also been Archozoom project designer in 2009.

Has been placed in Lot / ek Architects (New York) between the years 2004/2005, as an assistant project Art Basel (Basel) in 2005, and as a project partner of the collective Atelier Van Lieshout (AVL) that same year in Rotterdam.

He has developed his work as an architect in b720 Arquitectos (Barcelona) during the years 2007 and 2008, and Group8 Architects (Geneva) in 2009.

In addition, since 2008 part of 1to100 Architects, and architectural collective based in Geneva. Its members have been active and decisive parts in projects such as the winning participation of Bahrain at the last Venice Biennale - RECLAIM Golden Lion 2011, exhibitions such as The Gulf - OMA-AMO's participation at the Venice Biennale 2007 and publications such as AMO-Rem Koolhaas's Al Manakh. Parallel to that, they conduce many different operations ranging from architecture, to journalism, until urban design. They have teaching positions at the EPFL and the University of Arts and Design in Geneva.

Its aim is to take position and initiate reflexions upon our contemporary environment.

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Published on: November 5, 2024
Cite: "The austere evolution of an oasis. Dar El Farina by Leopold Banchini Architects" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/austere-evolution-oasis-dar-el-farina-leopold-banchini-architects> ISSN 1139-6415
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