Women's House
Ouled Merzoug, Skoura, Ouarzazate, Morocco

Year of Completion: 2019
Project Partner(s): Academic team of the UHasselt postgraduate certificate Building Beyond Borders and BC architects & studies
Length Building Site: 8 months
Surface Area: Interior: 130
Building Techniques: granite masonry, adobe
Awards: Landezine Award 2020, Terra Fibra Award 2021
Web: ArchDaily

In Ouled Merzoug, a small earthen village near the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, a piece of land was offered by the community to the recently founded women’s association AFOM (Association des Femmes d’Ouled Merzoug). Within the postgraduate certificate Building Beyond Borders, organized by UHasselt SEE, the participants designed and built in close collaboration with local women and workers. 

The end result of this participatory process is a Women's House: a meeting, working and learning place in the centre of the village. In this project, the limits of sustainable building were challenged by maximizing the use of local and regenerative materials and the confrontation between traditional and contemporary building techniques