This energy-efficient building meets the targets of LEED certification. The high school of excellence is an educational city that stands out for its architecture with clean lines, essentially inspired by the traditional local style with regular frames that allow great flexibility of operation as well as easy scalability of buildings. The project is a harmonious symbiosis between voids and full spaces, shadows and lights, between forms and functions to contain and serve the needs of the user and the objectives of the teaching team.
The contemporary architecture of the building contributes to giving the establishment a remarkable visual identity, so that it becomes the symbol and urban signal of the green city Mohamed VI. It extends over an area of 17 ha in which the constructive frame of the building draws a majestic Skyline that crowns a green park of 10 Ha. The organization chart of the High School is also governed by the school objectives and the educational project which is in the continuity of the DNA of OCP establishments.
The aim is to create optimal working conditions for educational staff and high school students. The fluidity of circulation, flexibility and adaptation are the major lines of the composition of the building. Here, the parameter of light was the keystone of the architectural design: it is diaphragmed, filtered, instilled to let the light of day pass through but not the heat. The alternation of full and empty spaces draw spatial mosaics that recall the atmospheres of traditional urbanizations in the region. The establishment is set in a landscaped setting that takes up the spirit and techniques of Moroccan gardens by promoting biodiversity and taking advantage of contour lines.
It is structured around 7 poles that are drawn from a prestigious entrance located at the intersection of the common life pole and the axis of the garden of the administration and general services. The teaching poles are laid out according to a principle of adequate arrangement of furniture in the classrooms and offer double-sided teaching spaces, thus promoting natural lighting and ventilation. These are oriented north to avoid the strong summer heat, accompanied by south circulation protected by concrete latticework of moucharabiehs.
The accommodation center offers a series of Ryads, green and shaded patios that allow to control the heat input and promote a micro climate and a quiet sound. The high school of excellence is structured around a main landscaped central park which is the catchment area of rainwater and from which start protected alleys that innervate all the other functions. This park is the nodal point of the high school around which gravitate the satellites of the other buildings which offer real spaces of autonomous living.
The landscape study favored frugal plant species and an optimized type of watering while creating a green poetry between plant, mineral, a true urban oasis.
ABOUT KOMIHA & DIOURI ARCHITECTS. The architectural agency of Noureddine KOMIHA and Wafaa DIOURI AYAD, both graduates of the Ecole Spéciale de Paris in 1979 and 1987, is a structure created in Casablanca in 1982.
Sources : Komiha Diouri Architectes, A+E architecture.
