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Architecture of Casablanca
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Architecture of Casablanca
The architecture of Casablanca is diverse and historically significant. Casablanca, Morocco's economic capital, has a rich urban history and is home to many notable buildings in a variety of styles. Throughout the 20th century, architecture and urban development in Casablanca evolved in a way that was simultaneously specific to the city's contexts, and consonant with international ideas.
Anfa, as the settlement in what is now Casablanca was known, was built by the Romans according to the Descrittione dell’Africa of Leo Africanus. The city is located at the mouth of Wādi Būskūra on the Atlantic Ocean in the Chaouia plain, known as Tamasna under the Barghawata. It was destroyed by the earthquake of 1755 and rebuilt by Sultan Muhammad III of Morocco, who employed European architects, and it was renamed Ad-dār al-Bayḍā (الدار البيضاء). The sqala, the medina walls, and the two oldest mosques date back to this period.
The 1906 Algeciras Conference gave the French holding company la Compagnie Marocaine permission to build a modern port in Casablanca. The French bombardment of Casablanca the following year destroyed much of the city, which at the time consisted of the medina, the mellah (Jewish quarter), and an area known as Tnaker. One of the first French constructions was a clock tower in the likeness of a minaret, an early example of a style called Neo-Mauresque, which would characterize much of Casablanca's architecture in the early colonial period, particularly civic and administrative buildings.
Under the French Protectorate officially established in 1912, the resident general Hubert Lyautey employed Henri Prost in the urban planning of Casablanca. Prost's radio-centric plan divided the city into the ville indigène, where the Moroccans would live, and a ville nouvelle for the Europeans fanning out to the east. Many buildings in Art Nouveau and Art Deco were designed by architects such as Marius Boyer in the ville nouvelle through the 1930s, while the French colonial apparatus experimented with the urban planning of neighborhoods such as the Hubous and the Bousbir.
The Paquebot style or Streamline Moderne, which architects such as Edmond Brion embraced in the 1930s, indicated a transition toward Modern architecture. In the 1940s, Michel Écochard took over urban planning and focused on a linear plan with industrial development to the east and housing projects to address overpopulation, such as those at Carrières Centrales. He led the Groupe des Architectes Modernes Marocains (GAMMA), which revolutionized modernist architecture at the 1953 International Congress of Modern Architecture by emphasizing the importance of considering local culture and climate in addition to modernist architectural principles. This approach is called vernacular modernism.
Elie Azagury became the first Moroccan modernist architect and led the GAMMA after Morocco's independence from France in 1956. He and his colleague Jean-François Zevaco were among the most important architects in Casablanca in the later 20th century. They, along with Abdeslam Faraoui and Patrice de Mazières, experimented with Brutalist architecture. The architecture of Casablanca at the turn of the 20th century was influenced by the politics of Neoliberalism.
Casablanca retains many authentic examples of traditional Moroccan architecture, particularly within the city walls of the historic Medina of Ad-Dār Al-Bayḍāʾ. There are a number of aḍriħa (mausolea) including those of Sidi Allal al-Qairawani and Sidi Belyout. Casablanca was one of a number of cities—including Essaouira, Marrakesh, and Rabat—that were revitalized after the earthquake of 1755, by Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah—who Abdallah Laroui called "the architect of modern Morocco." The sultan was known to have used European architects, such as Théodore Cornut and Ahmed el Inglizi, in his projects. The Sqala bastion and the two oldest mosques in the city, the Mosque of the Makhzen and the Ould el-Hamra Mosque, were built during Sultan Muhammad Ben Abdallah's renovations to the city.
The city's population grew under the protégé system as Europeans settled in the city, and with the migration of Jews from the interior of the country. In 1886, Élisée Reclus described Casablanca as a "European coastal settlement" and "desolate and extremely unhealthy."
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Architecture of Casablanca
The architecture of Casablanca is diverse and historically significant. Casablanca, Morocco's economic capital, has a rich urban history and is home to many notable buildings in a variety of styles. Throughout the 20th century, architecture and urban development in Casablanca evolved in a way that was simultaneously specific to the city's contexts, and consonant with international ideas.
Anfa, as the settlement in what is now Casablanca was known, was built by the Romans according to the Descrittione dell’Africa of Leo Africanus. The city is located at the mouth of Wādi Būskūra on the Atlantic Ocean in the Chaouia plain, known as Tamasna under the Barghawata. It was destroyed by the earthquake of 1755 and rebuilt by Sultan Muhammad III of Morocco, who employed European architects, and it was renamed Ad-dār al-Bayḍā (الدار البيضاء). The sqala, the medina walls, and the two oldest mosques date back to this period.
The 1906 Algeciras Conference gave the French holding company la Compagnie Marocaine permission to build a modern port in Casablanca. The French bombardment of Casablanca the following year destroyed much of the city, which at the time consisted of the medina, the mellah (Jewish quarter), and an area known as Tnaker. One of the first French constructions was a clock tower in the likeness of a minaret, an early example of a style called Neo-Mauresque, which would characterize much of Casablanca's architecture in the early colonial period, particularly civic and administrative buildings.
Under the French Protectorate officially established in 1912, the resident general Hubert Lyautey employed Henri Prost in the urban planning of Casablanca. Prost's radio-centric plan divided the city into the ville indigène, where the Moroccans would live, and a ville nouvelle for the Europeans fanning out to the east. Many buildings in Art Nouveau and Art Deco were designed by architects such as Marius Boyer in the ville nouvelle through the 1930s, while the French colonial apparatus experimented with the urban planning of neighborhoods such as the Hubous and the Bousbir.
The Paquebot style or Streamline Moderne, which architects such as Edmond Brion embraced in the 1930s, indicated a transition toward Modern architecture. In the 1940s, Michel Écochard took over urban planning and focused on a linear plan with industrial development to the east and housing projects to address overpopulation, such as those at Carrières Centrales. He led the Groupe des Architectes Modernes Marocains (GAMMA), which revolutionized modernist architecture at the 1953 International Congress of Modern Architecture by emphasizing the importance of considering local culture and climate in addition to modernist architectural principles. This approach is called vernacular modernism.
Elie Azagury became the first Moroccan modernist architect and led the GAMMA after Morocco's independence from France in 1956. He and his colleague Jean-François Zevaco were among the most important architects in Casablanca in the later 20th century. They, along with Abdeslam Faraoui and Patrice de Mazières, experimented with Brutalist architecture. The architecture of Casablanca at the turn of the 20th century was influenced by the politics of Neoliberalism.
Casablanca retains many authentic examples of traditional Moroccan architecture, particularly within the city walls of the historic Medina of Ad-Dār Al-Bayḍāʾ. There are a number of aḍriħa (mausolea) including those of Sidi Allal al-Qairawani and Sidi Belyout. Casablanca was one of a number of cities—including Essaouira, Marrakesh, and Rabat—that were revitalized after the earthquake of 1755, by Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah—who Abdallah Laroui called "the architect of modern Morocco." The sultan was known to have used European architects, such as Théodore Cornut and Ahmed el Inglizi, in his projects. The Sqala bastion and the two oldest mosques in the city, the Mosque of the Makhzen and the Ould el-Hamra Mosque, were built during Sultan Muhammad Ben Abdallah's renovations to the city.
The city's population grew under the protégé system as Europeans settled in the city, and with the migration of Jews from the interior of the country. In 1886, Élisée Reclus described Casablanca as a "European coastal settlement" and "desolate and extremely unhealthy."
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