Through the Layers of Memory & Scent

ESALA, Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture

Project idea

The project addresses the loss of cultural memory in a rapidly changing historic city. Rooted in research into Tangier's sensory life — its smells, foods, and everyday rituals, it proposes a cooking school and sensory gardens as a place where heritage is not preserved as monument but kept alive through daily acts of cooking, gathering, and growing.

Project description

The project is sited within the Italian Institute compound in Tangier, Morocco. A new building sits parallel to the existing institute, creating a public edge toward the street. The ground floor operates as a flexible community space, hosting a demonstration kitchen, market stalls, food exhibitions, and communal dining. Upper floors contain teaching kitchens, a library and archive, theory classrooms, and a laboratory. To the north, a network of allotment gardens grows the ingredients used inside, connecting the school to the land and the neighbourhood. The building is structured around barrel-vaulted bays that allow passive ventilation and generous interior height.

Technical information

Load-bearing masonry structure with barrel-vaulted concrete shell roofs. Materiality references local Moroccan building traditions: rammed earth, brick, and terracotta tile. The building is designed for passive ventilation through vault geometry and cross-ventilation. Site area approximately 3,500m², built floor area approximately 2,400m² across three floors.

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