Moroccan House Research Articles

Cultural heritage tourism and urban regeneration: The case of Fez Medina in Morocco

After Morocco gained independence in 1956, the country's historic cities, including Fez, Marrakesh, and Meknes, experienced rapid urban growth, decay, and the destruction of their rich cultural and architectural heritage. The rise in urbanisation, redevelopment projects, and tourism has raised concerns related to the urban gentrification and social sustainability of local communities. In addition, the influx of large-scale foreign investments and the conversion of traditional Moroccan houses into riad hotels have sparked tensions over land use, economic shifts, and the ongoing exploitation of historic cities. This research presents a case study of the world heritage city of Fez in Morocco, where these dynamics are particularly significant, as efforts are made to balance conservation and modern needs. The main question to be addressed is how can the surviving historic centres be regenerated while ensuring social sustainability for their inhabitants? The primary objective of this study is to explore the multifaceted urban regeneration strategies in Fez, focusing on urban planning, conservation efforts, economic revitalisation, and social development. Employing a mixed-method approach, this study draws on desk research, content analysis, fieldwork, observations, and qualitative interviews with key stakeholders. The findings suggest that the previous strategies focused on physical development and riad hotels to boost cultural tourism and tourist accommodation, exacerbating the gentrification and socioeconomic stratification of the local community. This study emphasises the “Ziyarates Fez” project, which provides an innovative approach to rehabilitating and reusing traditional houses for tourism accommodation without displacing local occupants. Furthermore, this project represents a holistic strategy for balancing economic and social sustainability in urban regeneration. This paper contributes to the expanding body of research on sustainable urban regeneration in historic cities. These results are anticipated to benefit academic research and the implementation of regeneration strategies in historic cities in Morocco and worldwide.

Preparation of Papers for IFAC Conferences & Symposia: Hydrogen Production in Moroccan Houses: Feasibility and Challenges

Hydrogen production requires renewable energy sources, such as solar energy. It is the lightest atom, and its storage is a real challenge. One of the most promising countries for hydrogen production is Morocco owing to its remarkable solar energy production. In this paper, we will discuss the feasibility and challenges of hydrogen production in a Moroccan household. To approximate reality, this research will focus on a Moroccan house located in a climatic zone characterized by a Mediterranean climate. The research methodology relies on the first hand, on synthetic data of solar energy power to reveal the hydrogen masses that a household can potentially produce during the year 2024. On the second hand, a scheme proposal using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm to automate the flow of electricity in a way to power the house from solar energy or hydrogen tanks, depending on the needs and availability. An Analysis of the system brings an idea about the feasibility in terms of materials and cost. The results show that, with a power of 300 KWh a house can produce from 5.3 to 5.9 Kg. Overall, the feasibility is positive technically but the high cost of materials, water insufficiency and safety matters make decentralized hydrogen production more challenging.

Energy Assessment and Economic Study of Solar Floor Heating System in Different Climates in Morocco

Abstract Currently, the development of energy production projects in the building sector using alternative energy sources such as solar energy is growing rapidly. This increasing technological progress to achieve the needs of comfort and safety can be considered a major priority, particularly with concerns about energy shortages and current environmental issues threatening not only human well-being but ecosystems as well. The present research aims to provide a comprehensive model for enhancing the energetic performance of rural Moroccan houses, by exploring solar radiant heating systems. The evaluation of the solar floor heating system is carried out by trnsys to evidence the effect of various design parameters on performance indexes of the system concerning six Moroccan cities, which representatively correspond to the Moroccan climatic zoning. The examined analyses cover the effect of the collector area, storage tank volume, and mass flowrate in the solar loop and the building heating loop. Moreover, how the variation of thickness and piping material affect the performances was discussed as well. The major finding of this work is optimizing the system performance gives the possibility to meet adequately the heating load. The energetic analysis shows the system's adaptability to the Moroccan climate, whose solar fraction is around 65% and 87%. For most of the examined sites, it was observed that the demand for auxiliary energy is limited from October to May. The economic investigations revealed that payback periods of the examined system ranged between 7 and 13 years. Besides, the energy and economic outcomes of such systems in Morocco, they are capable to mitigate the huge amount of CO2 emissions as compared to conventional heating systems.

Islamic Geometry Reinterpreted

In the second half of the nineteenth century, there was a growing interest in Western countries for Islamic stucco glass windows, which were known from descriptions in books and as imported artifacts. Among the oldest publications is Émile Prisse d’Avennes’ (1807-1879) L’art arabe d’après les monuments du Kaire depuis le VIIe siècle jusqu’à la fin du XVIIIe. One year after its publication in 1877, its illustrations inspired the geometrical patterns of the windows of the Moroccan House, a neo-Moorish pavilion in the park of Linderhof Palace (Ettal, Germany).

When a Patio Becomes a City

In the 1950s, the city of Casablanca underwent a surge in demographic growth. Having become a strategic port during the French protectorate, it quickly had to accommodate more than 140,000 new arrivals from the countryside.
 The most extensive urban development project in the city was Carrières Centrales, introduced as a case study in the CIAM IX by the GAMMA team. Michel Écochard, Candilis and Woods reinterpreted the traditional Moroccan house in a compact horizontal fabric as well as in singular buildings. This became the typology not only for a house, but for the whole city.
 A revisit to Carrières Centrales 65 years after its construction provides an understanding of the metamorphosis that the urban fabric has undergone over time. The critical analysis in this research aims to uncover the main architectural and social parameters that have influenced its transformation.
 To achieve this goal, fieldwork was carried out during a research trip in October 2018. The work involved contacting local professors, accessing the archives of the University of Casablanca, interviewing the residents, and redrawing and graphing all the architectural elements that had changed since their construction.
 The urban fabric of Carrières Centrales was found to have evolved in a way that supports the following hypothesis: if an urban model imported into a developing country does not adapt to the changes in the life of its residents, it is considered a failure.

MOROCCAN PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY 1963-2016: A STUDY OF THE STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS OF PARLIAMENT

This study attempts to provide a legal reading in the composition of the Moroccan Parliament in light of the transformation of the contents of the constitutional history of the Kingdom of Morocco from 1963 to the year 2011, as it will focus on the organizational transformations that the first chamber of the Moroccan Parliament defined. Therefore, we will try to monitor the various elements of the development of the structure of the Moroccan House of Representatives, through a reading of the Moroccan constitutions and organizational laws, the development of power or the constitutional functions assigned to it, based on the constitutions and internal regulations of the House of Representatives. Thus, this study constitutes a reference basis for understanding the Moroccan parliamentary history, for the House of Representatives in terms of its structure and the constitutional powers assigned to it.

An Optimal Energy Management of Grid-Connected Residential Photovoltaic-Wind-Battery System under Step-rate and Time-of-Use Tariffs

This paper explores optimization for energy management for a given residential application. The study proposes an approach that can minimize the utilization of the grid for electricity usage in the load and maximize the sale from renewable energy (photovoltaic (PV) and wind turbine (WT)). Besides, the battery storage is permitted to sell the excess power during high price period. A time-of-use (ToU) and step-rate tariffs are incorporated in the model to control the efficiency of the utility grid and also to consider the fluctuation of the electricity price. Therefore, two energy management methodologies are developed to adjust the tariffs for great benefits. Â Various residential feed-in tariffs (FIT) are implemented in order to reach the potential of cost-saving and earn more cost-benefit. A typical Moroccan house, containing a grid-connected PV-WT-Battery system, is used for study validation. On the one hand, simulation results show that the developed energy management strategies are effective in controlling the power sources optimally. On the other hand, applying the method under a greater FIT, a lesser requirement of battery capacity will be performed as well as a maximum cost saving. Then, the model as a Non-Linear Problem (NLP) is compared with another existing optimization approach to ascertain the effectiveness and validity of the algorithm.

Bipolarisation of the Moroccan political party arena? Refuting this idea through an analysis of the party system

ABSTRACT The campaign for the October 7, 2016 election of the Moroccan House of Representatives, during which media attention was focused on the competition between the Islamist Party of Justice and Development (PJD) and the secular Party of Authenticity and Modernity (PAM), resulted in a narrow victory of the former over the latter. This led journalists and scholars to speak of a ‘bipolarisation’ of the political party arena in Morocco. This article aims to empirically verify such assertion by analysing the characteristics of the party system that emerged out of the Moroccan 2016 elections. Findings reveal that, despite the high party system fragmentation and the ideological and political differences between the PJD and PAM, the Moroccan party system cannot be classified as bipolar for three main reasons: there are no alliances or coalitions of opposing parties that are stable over time, and that alternate in the government; third political parties possess political ‘blackmail’ and coalition potential in the process of government formation; and the direction of party competition is centripetal, given the need for parties to be moderate if they wish to gain influence within the political system. The authoritarian nature of the political regime and the ‘executive monarchy’ form of government are the core factors that account for the absence of bipolarisation within the Moroccan party system.

Thermal insulation improvement in construction materials by adding spent coffee grounds: An experimental and simulation study

Improving thermal insulation of buildings envelopes can reduce their energy consumption and related CO2 emissions considerably. Searching for new and innovative insulation materials is therefore a key challenge. This paper presents an experimental study to show the effect of adding spent coffee grounds (SCGs) on thermal properties of plaster composite. The obtained results using the box method show a significant decrease of thermal conductivity along with an increase of the coffee ground content, indicating the possible usage of the resulting material as efficient insulation in buildings. It is found that the thermal conductivity of the resulting building material can be decreased from 0.5 to 0.31 W/m.K by adding 6 wt% of CGs to the initial material. To illustrate energetically and environmentally the benefit of using the proposed material, annual simulations were carried out for a typical Moroccan house located in Marrakech. The results indicated that up to 20% of the cooling and heating loads of the building can be reduced if the proposed material substitutes the conventional one. From an environmental point of view, the utilization of the proposed material can reduce up to 1500 kg CO2, annually for the studied case.

Improving the energy-efficient envelope design for Moroccan houses

The building sector accounts for about 36% of final energy consumption in Morocco, with 29% reserved for residential and 7% for the tertiary sector. This energy consumption is expected to increase in view of major projects initiated and planned by the government in key sectors of the Moroccan economy. Thus, this article presents a dynamic energetic study for an individual house building located in Oujda city (Morocco) by using TRNSYS software. A typical meteorological year (TMY) corresponding to Oujda city was established and used to determine the required energy for obtaining the thermal comfort in winter and summer conditions. Special attention was paid to the effect of different parameters, such as insulation and thermal mass, colour of external surfaces, window type and area and shading on the annual required energy. Results show that annual heating required energy is reduced by 8.38% and the annual cooling required energy is reduced by 70.54% by using 6 cm of EPS thermal insulation to the outside of exterior walls. The window area plays an important role in building energy consumption in the Moroccan environment. A saving of 1.91% in annual required heating energy and 6% in annual cooling required energy for the base case house can be achieved by replacing the single glazing by double glazing.