Phosphatiers Sports Campus – Ben Guerir, Morocco  

Project Description provided by Oualou + Choi - Conceived as a centre for top-level sportsmen and women on a regional scale, this project incorporates a high density of programmes and
uses, within an arid territory and a loose, poorly
defined urban fabric.
The architecture is monumental in its design but
retains great simplicity in its implementation and
in the choice of materials used.
The brise soleil and the earth/sand-coloured
concrete buildings ensure that the building is
firmly rooted in its urban context, and in its vast,
dry, rocky desert landscape.
This new landmark blends into its surroundings,
blending into the composition of its own soil in
such a way as not to destabilise the substantial
elements of the site.
OUALALOU + CHOI
Phosphatiers sports campus
PRESS RELEASE
Set back from the alignment and the boundaries
of the pitch, a large landscape structure 350 m
long gives a new scale to the site and creates a rich
public space, making the club part of its public
prerogative.
The covered structures (swimming pools,
gymnasium, multi-sports and fitness facilities) are
built along an internal street that echoes the public
esplanade, creating a porous structure for all the
outdoor activities.
The materiality of the project is its very essence.
Over and above a concern for integration, the
architecture of this building becomes a defence,
the possibility of a temperate climate.
The covered spaces are naturally ventilated. The
gallery, punctuated by sunbreakers, forms the
structural façade of the entire project.
This covered circulation is intimately linked to
each block and connects the whole project in a
simple yet powerful way.
The use of an elementary material, which plays its
structural role and allows the building to be read
in a way that is both sophisticated and elegant,
enables us to create a powerful composition that is
inherent in the whole.
As part of an eco-responsible approach, the
project uses passive ventilation systems which,
combined with the production of solar energy,
make the entire campus self-sufficient in terms of
its energy needs in this near-desert climate.