Restoration of a 220 m² riad in the medina of Rabat
A 220 m² riad on three levels in the medina of Rabat, bought as-is by a French-Moroccan couple. A project like this cannot be handled as an ordinary renovation: you are repairing a living building, not working on a neutral shell.
Study project: this case describes a typical practice commission and the trade-offs it involves. The visuals are computer-generated images produced by the studio, not photographs of a completed site.
Damp, structure, and what we keep
Three problems come up again and again in an old riad: rising damp at the base of the walls, timber floors weakened by water coming through the terraces, and clumsy repairs carried out over the decades. The survey is there as much to identify what can be saved as to spot what has to be taken out.
Here, two walls needed underpinning, and all the terraces were rebuilt with a new waterproofing layer beneath a traditional finish.
Repair the traditional way, fit out for today
The renders were redone in lime, which lets the wall breathe, whereas a waterproof cement render would have made the damp worse. The zellige tiles in the patio were lifted, sorted and relaid, completed with new tiles made to the same size.
Everything to do with comfort, by contrast, is frankly contemporary: new services, bathrooms, heating, kitchen, and a black steel walkway serving the upper floor. The contrast is deliberate: it avoids pastiche and makes the new work legible.
What changes in the medina
Working in the medina requires specific permits and, depending on the district, the approval of heritage authorities. Timescales stretch out, and some changes to the external appearance are simply refused. You need to know this before you buy, not afterwards.
A preliminary regulatory review costs a few thousand dirhams and can save you from buying a property you will never be allowed to transform.
The part you cannot subcontract
Zellige craftsmen, plasterers, cedar joiners: these trades cannot be managed over the phone. The work is approved on full-size samples, and the site is visited weekly. That is what separates a careful restoration from a rough-and-ready renovation.
The same care goes into the furniture designed for the house, in line with my work on bespoke furniture.
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