The medina of Marrakech, the medieval walled city that forms the historical heart of this Moroccan metropolis, contains thousands of riads—traditional courtyard houses organized around interior gardens that provide privacy, shade, and the cooling effect of water in a climate where summer temperatures regularly exceed 40 degrees Celsius. Many of these buildings, once the homes of wealthy merchant families, had fallen into serious disrepair by the late twentieth century. A growing movement to restore and adapt them for contemporary use has produced some of the most interesting residential work in the Mediterranean region.
Studio KO, the Paris-based practice founded by Moroccan-born architect Karl Fournier and French partner Olivier Marty, has completed the restoration of Riad Amani, a nineteenth-century property in the medina's Mouassine quarter. The project, commissioned by a European family who use the house as a part-time residence, demonstrates how traditional Moroccan residential architecture can be adapted to contemporary life while preserving the qualities that make it valuable.
Transformation Comparison
Drag the slider to compare before and after
The riad, like most properties in the medina, presents a blank face to the street—a high wall pierced only by a single door and the occasional small window. This exterior reticence, a response to the Islamic preference for interiority and the practical need for security in a dense urban environment, gives no indication of the spatial richness that lies within. Passing through the entry, visitors traverse a winding passage—a security device that prevents direct sight lines from street to interior—before emerging into the courtyard that forms the building's heart.
This courtyard, measuring approximately 8 by 12 meters, represents the organizing element of the entire composition. Studio KO's restoration carefully preserved the existing geometric configuration: a rectangular court with a central fountain, surrounded on four sides by two-story arcades that provide access to the building's rooms. The original tiling, intricate geometric patterns in colored zellige (the traditional Moroccan mosaic of hand-cut ceramic), had survived in fragmentary condition. The architects worked with a master tile cutter from Fez to restore these patterns, using traditional techniques that have been practiced in Moroccan cities for centuries.
The restoration's most significant intervention involved the building's environmental systems. Traditional riads rely on passive strategies—thermal mass, shade, evaporative cooling from the central fountain, and the stack effect that draws warm air upward through the building—to maintain comfortable conditions. These strategies, sophisticated for their era, no longer provide sufficient comfort as Marrakech's climate warms and as contemporary expectations of thermal comfort have increased. The architects installed a discreet mechanical system, using a ground-source heat pump with loops installed in the courtyard, that provides cooling without compromising the building's historic character. The distribution, through under-floor ducts and concealed diffusers, is virtually invisible.
The ground floor, traditionally the building's public and service spaces, has been reorganized to accommodate contemporary patterns of life. The largest room, originally a reception space for male guests, becomes the main living room. Its impressive proportions—4.5 meters high with a ceiling of painted cedar, intricately carved with geometric patterns—required no alteration, only restoration of surfaces that had been damaged by moisture and neglect. The original plaster, a lime-based mixture with local pigments, was repaired using compatible materials and techniques.
The kitchen, traditionally a separate structure in the rear of the property, has been brought into the main building volume. This change, while departing from the traditional configuration, reflects the contemporary preference for integrated cooking and living. The new kitchen, while contemporary in its equipment, uses traditional materials: custom cabinetry in local cedar, countertops of polished tadelakt (the traditional Moroccan waterproof plaster), and hardware in hand-forged iron by a smith who works in the medina.
The upper floor, traditionally the family's private quarters, contains the bedrooms. The master suite occupies the south side of the building, where windows overlook the courtyard. The bed, a custom platform in carved and painted cedar, was made by a workshop in Marrakech that has produced furniture for riad restoration projects throughout the medina. The adjacent bathroom, fully contemporary in its fixtures, uses tadelakt surfaces throughout, creating a space that feels both traditional and modern.
The most ambitious element of the restoration involved the roof. Traditional riad roofs, flat structures used for sleeping during the hottest summer nights, had been enclosed over the years to create additional rooms. Studio KO removed these later additions, restoring the roof to its original open configuration and creating a terrace that provides views across the medina to the Atlas Mountains. A small pool, fed by the building's rainwater collection system, provides a cooling element that extends the riad's environmental strategy to the rooftop.
Throughout the project, Studio KO worked with craftspeople from Marrakech, Fez, and other Moroccan cities where traditional skills survive. This commitment to local craft was not merely aesthetic preference; it represents a position that the preservation of architectural traditions requires the continuation of the craft traditions that produced them. The project's budget, while substantial, was directed toward craft labor rather than imported materials or equipment—a choice that supports local economies while producing a building that belongs to its place.
The clients, who spend approximately four months annually in Marrakech, describe the riad as fundamentally different from their European residence. "The house teaches us about a different relationship between inside and outside, between private and public, between building and garden," the wife explains. "Living here has changed how we understand domestic space—what it can be, what it should provide."
Riad Amani demonstrates that historic residential architecture, when approached with respect for its inherent intelligence, can accommodate contemporary life without losing its essential character. The project offers a model for the restoration of the thousands of riads that remain in Moroccan medinas—buildings that represent a sophisticated response to climate, culture, and urban conditions that has much to teach contemporary practice.
