HQ & Conference Center / Archi+ + Guerin & Pedroza Architects

Curated by Hana Abdel

Architects: Archi+, Guerin & Pedroza Architectes
Area: 5500 m²
Year: 2018
Manufacturers: Porcelanosa Grupo, Saint-Gobin, Tacchini
Lead Architects: Anouar ALAMI

Text description provided by the architects. Located within the Noor Ouarzazate Solar Complex (Morocco), the "lighthouse building," intended to house a Reception and Conference Center and the Masen offices, is the starting point for the programming of circuits of diversified scientific and cultural visits. The architecture of the building went through several phases, but the philosophy and ambition developed upstream of the project were the continuous threads of reflection. The building should be representative of the complex's environmental commitment and technical excellence. The architectural concept meets the same requirements: innovation, strong identity, and integration in a particular environment. The architects propose a set of "exploded" buildings, inserted in the same concern for compactness in a perfect rectangle and arranged around a panoramic tower. Each entity displays the singularity of its volume in a unique, sculptural, and dynamic composition. The advantages of this composition are multiple: the uses are differentiated (Masen Services, Masen Center) but remain and communicate with each other.

The public spaces offer, on the other hand, an architectural route staged thanks to the interior volumes double height, a play of ramps, mezzanines, and footbridges, having as a highlight the panorama of the great landscape of the region, offered at the top of the belvedere tower. The cubic volume of the Reception and Conference Centre, consisting of two distinct blocks (reception on one side, video surveillance, and Masen Services on the other), seems to float, highlighting the views of the interior gardens and exteriors. The simplicity of the massing, the openings of the buildings worked according to their exposure, and the choice of colors are inspired by the Kasbahs of southern Morocco. The diagonal lines, the drawings of the facades, and the aluminum mesh that protects the most exposed draw in the Berber craftsmanship.

In its design and construction, the virtuous use of resources involved a particularly demanding attention to materials, water management, and energy efficiency, as well as in the operating phase to the comfort and health of users. An economical and autonomous management of water through a recovery system reused in sanitary and watering of plantations. The materials were chosen according to their insertion in the site, local resources, and their ability to age well, while the envelope contributed to the control of energy consumption. Energy efficiency and the bioclimatic approach, inspired by the natural processes of vernacular architecture, determine the devices set up for sun protection, cooling, and ventilation. In addition to its belvedere function, the tower, for example, is designed according to the ancestral process of the wind tower, which allows, through a system of underground galleries, the natural refreshment of spaces such as the auditorium and the atrium.

It is now the first building in Africa certified HQE «excellent». Overall balance of the building: solar energy, reached a level of consumption of 35KW m2/year, a target of 30% lower than the reference consumption.