Africa > North Africa > Morocco > Morocco 450-meter-high 'tower' with offices, shops, homes

Morocco: Morocco 450-meter-high 'tower' with offices, shops, homes

2015/05/02

The project has been drafted, although it has not been defined yet in all its parts. It is now necessary to understand whether it will be possible to find investors - mainly from abroad - who are interested and willing to spend.

The idea is to create a ''vertical city'', a 450-meter-high tower to be set up in the Moroccan desert to host dozens of shops, offices, luxury homes, a hotel, bars and restaurants, as well as scientific offices for weather forecasts.

The projects is being studied by French architects - OXO Architects - who published it on their website to promote it, garnering hundreds of contacts.

The initiative was explained by Manal Rachdi, the founder of the architecture studio of Moroccan descent. He was the project's ''engine'' when it kicked off two years ago. The plan is inspired by ''vertical cities'' thanks to which many countries confront demographic growth in major cities.

''It was the basis of a study we carried out with as objective the development of an urbanization project'', he told website Telquel.

''I chose Moroccan Sahara because it seems to me appropriate for the project also because Morocco is my country of origin'', he added.

The tower is essentially based on the idea of a ''vertical city'' harmonizing autonomous buildings that work thanks to the massive use of renewable and geo-thermic energy through highly advanced technological solutions.

Images of the project showing the ''vertical city'' - with an extension of over 78,000 square meters - have sparked huge interest in Morocco and not just among potential investors as it is considered an occasion to ''give as a present'' to the kingdom a structure that could become famous worldwide.

However, the plan is not short-term as, Rachdi explained, the structure could be completed only in about 10 years - with geo-morphological surveys, projects, bureaucracy and construction work.

Related Articles

Children on the move from Africa do not first aim to go to Europe, new UNICEF study shows
2017/07/29 Children on the move into Europe from Africa take the decision to leave home on their own and do not initially intend to go to Europe. For the majority the systematic trauma and abuse they witnessed or suffered in Libya caused them to flee to Europe and take the terrifying Central Mediterranean sea route, according to a new study commissioned by UNICEF and carried out by REACH.
WHO lauds Africa’s progress in malaria, HIV control
2017/07/29 The World Health Organisation (WHO), has commended the African region for making significant evolution in malaria control in the last five years. Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, said malaria incidence and mortality rates had declined by 42 % and 66 % respectively between 2000 and 2015. Moeti made the commendation in Kigali, Rwanda, while speaking at the Initial Africa Health Forum, launched by WHO, Africa and the Government of Rwanda.
The Nigeria Movement for the Liberation of Western Sahara (NMLWS)
2017/07/29 The Nigeria Movement for the Liberation of Western Sahara (NMLWS), has urged Nigerian Government to oppose move by Morocco to join the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS). A statement by the Convener of NMLWS, Mr Dipo Fashina on Thursday in Abuja, said that Morocco was not classified as member national of ECOWAS by the United Nations and African Union. “The Kingdom is a member of Arab Maghreb Union States together with Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania and Tunisia.
South Africa plays an active role in the AU
2017/07/17 Absence of Zuma and Ramaphosa raises eyebrows, quoted Liesl Louw-Vaudran, a consultant at the Institute of Security Studies (ISS), who said South Africa was “ceding power to other players on the continent, such as Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and the current AU chairperson President Alpha Condé of Guinea”.
Africa: How to Adapt to Beat Crippling Droughts
2017/07/17 Right presently, 14 million people across southern Africa face going hungry due to the prolonged drought brought on by the strongest El Niño in 50 years. South Africa will import half of its maize and in Zimbabwe as a lot of as 75 % of crops have been abandoned in the worst-hit areas. With extreme weather, such as failed rains, and drought projected to become additional likely as a result of climate change, some farmers are by presently taking matters into their own hands, and pro-actively diversifying the crops they grow.