The earth restoration workshop I participated in 2018 in Morocco organized by Terrachidia was so fabulous I returned for another year in January of 2019. This time I went with a former professor from architecture school, but more importantly my good friend Susan, which made for an even richer experience.
This year’s project was the restoration of the Sidi Abdullah Khalifa Marabout in the M’hamid oasis village of Ouled Youssef. Shrines like this are built to house the tombs of marabouts, Islamic holy men in Morocco, and serve as a place where visitors or pilgrims can seek healing, aid, or enlightenment. As Moroccan novelist Tahar Ben Jelloun writes …“This natural appearance of the Marabout in the smallest village or douar is a sign of a deep spirituality, beyond dogma. They are neutral spaces where silence helps to heal the internal wounds of visitors. We pass through Morocco and they are seen everywhere, sometimes even along roadsides.”
The marabout had fallen into disrepair over time and as all of Terrachidia’s projects, the aim was to restore the building with the local techniques used in the vernacular construction of the region- rammed earth, adobe brick making, and earth plaster, including Tadelakt, the Moroccan method of creating a water-proof lime based plaster. Participants are guided and trained by local masters and craftsman. We were hosted by Khalifa and Ali at Nomadic Life.
An exciting addition to this year’s workshop was working alongside the ArCHIAM Research Centre (Centre for the Study of Architecture and Cultural Heritage of India, Arabia and the Maghreb), based at University of Liverpool, School of Architecture. The research team, including a filmmaker from Cinetecture, were on site to document the village of Ouled Youssef and the Terrachidia workshop, in drawings, photographs, and film in addition to giving a lecture to the participants about their work. A couple days into the workshop I opened my sketchbook and asked Giamilla, the coordinator for the team, if the type of sketch reporting I was practicing would be useful for their research outputs. So in that way, my time during the workshop was spent documenting in sketch, the goings-on of the workshop, construction methods of the project, and the domestic life of Ouled Youssef that will be used to supplement the documentation and recording that was being done by the team. The final sketches submitted are included in this post.
After the workshop I travelled again with my talented illustrator-sketcher friend Simo and we returned to a place dear to us, Kasbah des Caids in Tamnougalt. Simo had an illustration of the kasbah published in a major Italian newspaper last year, and had a printed, translated copy to give to our friend Hassan. Her next assignment on Morocco was Marrakech’s main square, Jemaa el-Fnaa, which we spent many hours sketching from all angles.
Throughout my month in Morocco the extreme unfairness of borders and visas, and who has the opportunity to travel where, was a very present in my mind. Americans and Europeans don’t need visas to enter Morocco for a stay of up to 3 months, however for a Moroccan it’s extremely difficult to get a travel visa to Europe or the US. How can we reciprocate the extraordinary generosity and welcomeness we experience when visiting Morocco? It’s heartbreaking to invite your Moroccan friend to visit you in Italy and hear the solemn response “ you know it’s not easy for us to go to Europe”.
Personally, Morocco felt even more mysterious this time. Maybe it’s because I was returning to a country I had spent time in before so I expected it to feel familiar, or I had the false understanding that I was beginning to grasp certain aspects of the culture, but in reality the place feels forever inaccessible. The geographical position of the oasis and being on the edge of the expansive sahara desert contributes somewhat. To quote Ben Jelloun again in speaking about Morocco “…Because this country, has a soul, it’s true. And a soul demands time, availability and generosity.”
With each visit I feel incredibly fortunate to spend time in an amazing place with such generous people.
The Terrachidia workshop project was to restore this marabout.
Alejandro explaining the project on the first day
Terra
Ouled Youssef
Plastering the domes on the roof
Hoist
Sketching the work in progress
Rammed earth
This way to the roof
Soil lab with Mamen
Adobe brick making
ArCHIAM’s Monika and Giamilla at work
The marabout on the last day
(photo credit: Jose Luis Moreno Adán)
Looking up into the corbelled dome of the marabout
The full team (photo credit: Jose Luis Moreno Adán)
Sketching while Knza translates my sketchbook into Moroccan (photo credit: Jose Luis Moreno Adán)
Bounou
Bounou
Bounou
Camel caravan
Tamnougalt
Simo returns with a gift to Hassan, a drawing of the Kasbah des Caids.
Sunset at Kasbah des Caids
Jebel Kissane
Jemaa el Fna, Marrakech
My drawings from the Terrachidia 2019 workshop Restoration, Recording and Documentation of Earthen Architectural Heritage can be viewed in this book published by ArCHIAM:
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