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Salima Naji: Oasis

Architect and anthropologist Salima Naji has been shortlisted for the 2013 Aga Khan Award, for her efforts in saving the heritage of several oasis towns in Morocco.

Trained as an architect and anthropologist, for the last decade Salima Naji has worked to save the heritage of several oasis towns in the anti-Atlas mountains of Morocco. This ambitious undertaking — shortlisted for the 2013 Aga Khan Award for Architecture — involves four sites that range in scale from communal granaries to partially abandoned fortified towns. Naji has carried out the work with skilled masons and unskilled workmen, whom she has trained in traditional building techniques and who go on to apply their skills at other sites.

Architecture and public spaces have been conserved not only for their historic value, but as locally rooted, sustainable models for contemporary building. Throughout, Naji has encouraged a participatory process with new and traditional community groups and actors. Her work provides an alternative model for conservation in Morocco: one that insists on maintaining the link between local communities and their historic environments.

Top: Salima Naji, restoration of an Amtoudi granary, Agadir Id Issa, Morocco. Above: Salima Naji, rescue of collective parts of Qsar Agadir Ouzrou. Photo by AKAA / Cemal Emden

Salima Naji: Preservation of Sacred and Collective Oasis Sites
Location: Guelmim Region, Morocco (Africa)
Architect: Salima Naji, Kénitra, Morocco
Client: Agence pour le Développement des Provinces du Sud, Cooperazione Internationale Sud Sud
Completed: 2011—ongoing
Design: 2003—2008
Site area: 3 hectares

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Salima Naji: Oasis

Architect and anthropologist Salima Naji has been shortlisted for the 2013 Aga Khan Award, for her efforts in saving the heritage of several oasis towns in Morocco.

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