Balcony | Atelier du Pont

Balcony

Ghandouri is the name of an urban development project that seeks to change the face of the Bay of Tangiers. This new area will bring both Tangiers’ residents and tourists together in a magnificent spot facing the Mediterranean. The site sits directly above the sea and offers an unrestricted view of the Bay, the Strait, and the Medina of Tangiers. Two broad principles were followed in designing the project: all the apartments must benefit from a view of the Bay of Tangiers, and the project must fit into the landscape by itself becoming a landscape or topography of its own. The three hectares of this trapezoidal lot invites the design of volumes that integrate themselves into the sloping landscape by using terraces. The built layers, set apart at judicious intervals, form a landscape that recalls the stone-wall terracing found across the Mediterranean. They face the sea and the dominant wind currents in order to benefit from the area’s natural ventilation systems. The Avenue du Front de Mer forms the ridgeline of the site, and the layers are superimposed to create a sort of rampart structure, an urban façade consisting of two to three-story buildings.