Moroccan Modernism: a project to promote the legacy of modernist workers’ settlements

With the project “Cités Ouvrières: Rediscovering Moroccan Modern Architecture”, the Italian Cultural Association NOSTOI aims to value Moroccan workers’ settlements, built between the 1920s and the 1960s in some of the urban and rural areas of the country. Due to economic, social and political reasons, these districts are destined to change or disappear: to make the project real, NOSTOI decided to launch a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter. 

Built as autonomous cities, with some of the urban principles of medinas, the settlements are far to be recognized part of the urban history. Open until the 29th of January, the fundraising campaign concentrates on researches and documentation of Moroccan architecture, with the aim to value and protect these cities, underlining their social richness and avoiding the risk of demolition. After documenting and collecting materials – pictures by Piero Percoco, drawings, measurements – the Milan and Rabat-based association will edit a book to talk about the settlements. Among these, NOSTOI will document Cité de la COSUMA (Compagnie Sucrière Marocaine, 1923) and Cité ouvrière des Ciments Lafarge (1922), both in Casablanca; Cité des Phosphates (1938), in Khouribga; Cité ouvrière de la SOCICA (Société Cherifienne de la Cité Ouvrière Marocaine de Casablanca, 1942), in Casablanca. All of them were realized by the French architect Edmond Brion and still host the families of the old workers.