ORDINARY BUILDING – MOROCCO

It is the light. The constantly changing light. And the blueness of the sky.

In Morocco, I found myself spending a lot of time looking directly up. And one reason was the courtyards.  Every time you enter an enclosed courtyard in say a Riad or a Madrassa, you immediately look up to the spectacular sky.

Slam on the brakes in the rental car when I saw this building.  Get out and snap a couple of pictures before driving on.  Forget about it until I look thru my photos after the trip.

Rather nondescript at first glance.   Yet as I looked more closely at these two photos, which I collaged, I realized that the rectangular space in the foreground is the courtyard, and the rectangular form towards the back of the enclosure is the actual building.  There is a slope to the site.

Naturally choosing the Choisey One Point, I rotated the building so I was looking up.  And behold, the incredible sky.

The courtyards are a tonic relief within the built fabric of the Moroccan culture.  Most acts of building are structured so as to keep out the heat, give protection, and control the light intake.  Yet the courtyards are a complete and total opening up to the sky.

Without meaning to, my drawing summarizes one of my overall feelings of Morocco.  There is the very hard and unforgiving earth.  There is the minimalist and brutal architectural response to that harsh environment.  And then there is the limitless sky which unites everything.