Skyscrapers are not built just to house offices or apartments. They are above all a declaration of intentions: a city that raises a tower is announcing to the world that it exists, that it grows, that it competes. Morocco knows this and has just presented inaugurated in Rabat the Mohammed VI Tower, the tallest skyscraper in the country and the third on the entire African continent (the throne goes to the Iconic Tower of the new capital of Egypt).
The impressive tower stands out both at the mouth of the Bouregreg River and on the skyline of traditional and historic Rabat. Its futuristic design is signed by the Moroccan architect Hakim Benjelloun and the Rafael de La Hoz studio, one of the Spanish studios with the longest international track record in high-rise architecture and whose curriculum includes being one of the precursors of the modernization of Spanish architecture and such iconic projects such as the corporate headquarters of Endesa, Repsol or Telefónica.
The skyscraper. According to the statement From the office of Rafael de La-Hoz, the Mohammed VI Tower rises 55 floors on a four-level podium on the banks of the Bouregreg, in a total constructed area of 102,800 square meters. His style is “afrofuturist”, in the words of the Cordoban architect himself.
The interior design of the building is carried out by the Belgian interior design firm Flamant. There it will house a luxury Waldorf Astoria hotel, offices, high-end apartments, a panoramic observation platform of Rabat and Salé, shops and restaurants. To go up to all these premises there are a total of 36 elevators distributed between the tower (21) and the podium (15).
Why is it important. As explained Rafael de la Hoz in a talk he gave about the project at the Cervantes Institute in Rabat in 2019, his style can be understood as the metaphor of a shared movement among African societies to appear on the map of contemporaneity. Be on the map. And boy is it: the silhouette of the Tower is visible from more than 50 kilometers away, redefining the urban landscape of Rabat and Salé.
The Mohammed VI Tower wants to be an anchor of metropolitan identity, establishing itself as a new architectural icon that reinforces the international projection of Morocco, within a strategy that combines tradition and modernity under the umbrella of sustainability.
Context. The inauguration of the Mohammed VI Tower represents another step in Morocco’s strategy to position itself as a growing country open to innovation, with the development of the Bouregreg valley as one of its most ambitious initiatives. In recent years the area has undergone a major facelift with the construction of a marina, a residential area, a theater and the Rabat-Salé metropolitan tram.
In fact, it is integrated into the plan of “Rabat City of Lights, Moroccan capital of Culture“, a roadmap that combines the rehabilitation of historical heritage with the creation of new contemporary spaces and the promotion of cultural activities with a clear objective: to convert the Moroccan capital into a cultural pole that combines tradition and modernity under sustainable criteria.
In detail. According to EFEthe building has 60-meter anti-seismic and anti-flood foundations, a harmonic shock absorber that is wind and vibration proof, its facades have dynamic lighting and photovoltaic panels and it has energy and rainwater recovery systems.
Of the Sickle counted that the tower has “a surface area of 4,700 m2 of solar panels that represents a revolution in the concept of high-rise buildings”, in addition to international sustainability and environmental efficiency certifications such as the American one LEED Gold wave HQE French.
Yes, but. UNESCO showed his rejection to the project as it is located in the estuary of the Bouregreg River, where there had never been buildings of more than three heights and it is not a small thing: in a city like Rabat, which was declared UNESCO World Heritage In 2012, precisely because of the visual integrity of its historic landscape, a 250-meter tower in the middle of the estuary irreversibly alters the landscape.
Furthermore, and although it is evident that the tower is a notable technical achievement and a construction that puts Rabat and Morocco on the architectural map, the concentration of premium uses in a single complex can trigger gentrification processes around the Buregreg, displacing activities and those who already lived there. It is the least visible face of the so-called “Bilbao effect“, widely analyzed in the academic literature on urban regeneration.
Cover | De La Hoz Architects
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