Next Project

Agadir

Part 2 Project 2014
Zean Mair-MacFarlane
University of Lincoln Lincoln | UK
Situated in Morocco this proposal is for the formalization of Agadir's argan oil industry. The concept involves the designing of several new structures which create a linear system that unites the cultural essence of argan oil manufacturing and the enhancement of Agadir's economic growth.

The master-plan is split into three categories, a new housing complex constructed close to the harvesting area, a factory that is located central to the site and a new harbour that is dedicated to the exportation of the argan oil.

The project addresses three main problems: Argan trees have halved in the past 100 years due to charcoal making and grazing. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization in partnership with the Moroccan Government is working in the planting of the argan tree, as they have recognised the argan tree as an endangered species. The argan tree not only produces oil, but also stabilises the desert landscape from soil erosion. Furthermore, the tree also offers food and shelter to indigenous animals. The business is encouraged and supported by the European Union for the economic, social and cultural benefits that the industry provides. The physical production of argan oil is carried out solely by women. Several co-operatives in Morocco aim to welcome and support Moroccan women in difficult financial or domestic situations. The proposal aims to adopt this ethic by creating a safe, comfortable living and working experience.

The intervention enhances the production of argan oil whilst respecting the cultural heritage of argan oils production. The proposal celebrates and honours Moroccan women and the communal environment in which they work. The new formation of the landscape allows an architectural embossment upon the landscape in order for a production line to be read 4 dimensionally. Just how cubism tested the limits of art by fragmenting imagery one can perceive this proposal as a visual shift/fracture to the existing landscape. The factory proposal is an instrument, part of a phenomenon and a breaking of a conceptualist formula upon the site it sits. It is a manifestation of two broken elements sea and desert that attempts to merge a void through a geometric vision. In essence this is a proposal that can be read from one side of the landscape to the other. It is not static but a process of production that incorporates its cultural identity and environmental context.

Zean Mair-MacFarlane

Tutor(s)

2014
• Page Hits: 38143         • Entry Date: 01 October 2014         • Last Update: 01 October 2014