Cop22 Village

With tensile structures and wooden parametric shapes, Oualalou+Choi designed the exhibition pavilions of the Cop 22, the United Nations meeting on climate in Marrakech.

Studio Oualalou+Choi was chosen to design the exhibition spaces for the COP22 – the international United Nations conference on climate change – which is taking place in Marrakech. The project addresses the questions of architecture’s role in creating temporary urbanism.

The design of the exhibition ground is based upon a temporary urbanism through the installation of a village of canopies, entirely demountable and reusable. Constructed within a span of five months on an empty piece of land, facing both the historical wall of the city and the Atlas mountains, the main axis of the site connects to two of the principal roads of the city. The central spine, 680 meters long and 18 meters wide, unites all the elements of the program and is covered by a gigantic canopy along its entire length.

The second element of the exhibition is the Canopy, a primitive and universal form of architecture that speaks to the common needs of man on this planet. The enormous tented structure over the central space covers 12,000 sqm and arises from a collaboration between Oualalou+Choi and the manufacturer Serge Ferrari. The prestressed membrane is of an openwork design to create an effect of transparency while still remaining completely waterproof.

The third element, the Gateway, is a monumental installation, 12 meters high and 50 meters long, serving as a gateway to the plenary sessions. It is a complex geometry constructed from a layering of elevations, with a motif that resembles a traditional doorway that is carved out of the multitude of wooden layers, sourced in Morocco. A fourth element is the Restaurant, where two restaurants have been designed as interlocking structures pulled apart to create a public agora at the heart of the village.