The Fiction of Architectural Identity in Contemporary Morocco

Abstract

On 14 January 1986, H.M. Hassan II, the late King of Morocco, delivered a speech on architecture. The speech was addressed to a small gathering of architects selected by the Ministry of the Interior as representatives of their profession. The King of Morocco, unlike Prince Charles, was a true ruler and his speech was not meant as an art critique. Rather, it was intended to clarify a new incipient politics of urban design. This new politics, which intended to promote a return to 'traditional' architectural culture, was in open contradiction to the former official discourse of modernization. How can one understand this return to traditional forms? Was this an index of failure in the process of modernization initiated by the state after Independence, or rather an issue of strong societal resistance towards modernization, calling for a new politics of urban design?