Coastal resort Ras el Ma

The project is located on a 42 acre plot, at the tip of Ras El Ma, on a promontory on the Mediterranean sea, between Nador and Saida, near the Algerian border. It is Saida’s newest coastal resort.

The notable site which is a spur where the Royal Navy tower stands, offers a view onto three islands when facing Spain. The 270º panoramic view makes the headland exceptionally attractive.
The actual plot harbors a six house-lot on its south-eastern part and a cliff marks its western limit. The rest of acreage is a natural refuge for halphyte plants. The site provides, at a culminating 20 metres, a gorgeous view onto the harbor, onto the village of Ras Kebdana nearby and onto the Jaafaryas islands off the coast.

In order to maintain the territory’s ecological balance, the car driveways are limited to a single service road and alleyway making a loop, itself based on the original route of the existing housing scheme. The loop also serves the various car parks alloted to the multiple entities of our programme, which are all blended in the landscape.

In order to design a construction built in a remarkable site, we specifically worked on the relief, the natural boundaries and the geometrical deconstruction as driving forces of our urban planning.
Our architectural study was based on typological references to the Moroccan architecture : the Medina’s peripheral enclosure, the interior of the traditional house – the riad…
The south entrance, marked by a large door in the project’s outer wall, offers a great perspective onto the first residential lot. It is lined with sports grounds, the amphitheatre and the campsite. The entrance joins up with the interior looping service road.
Right after the campsite, the road keeps the Royal Navy’s tower in its line of sight. This main pathway, defines itself by featuring open pavilions alternating with palm trees to provide some shade to the pedestrians.
The pathway runs along a group of houses whose spacing offers views onto the sea. Corner shops also line the alleyway. The lane leads to a panoramic viewpoint at the site’s end, for a spectacular view.