Dakhla Ecotourism Masterplan
Urbanism
Dakhla is a small city located along the Saharan Atlantic coast, in the South of Morocco. The city’s main economic sectors are the fishing and tourism industries. Aziza Chaouni Projects was approached by the Ministry of Tourism of Morocco to develop a masterplan for an ecologically sensitive area south of the city which would boost the ecotourism sector. This initiative developed proposals for three sites.
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Site one consists of a visitor’s center complex, with rental shops, a café, restaurant and exhibition area linked to a new park management and research facility. The research facility will survey and monitor the flora and fauna on the ecologically sensitive reserve, simultaneously introducing visitors to the site’s fragile ecosystem and to the accommodation and activities available. Site two contains two spa hotels, designed to expand and contract with the seasonality of the tourism industry. These sites incorporate landscape features to protect the hotel from the strong sea winds, while simultaneously integrating the buildings into the landscape to allow for mineral treatments in the natural land depressions. The third site comprises a visitor’s centre, clubhouse, and a wind sports hotel--built with a series of tensile structures and kite generators which produce sustainable energy for the operation of the luxury camping grounds.
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Learn more about the interactive masterplan here.
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Link to interactive masterplan:
