Community category

The goal with resuscitating the Fez River is to enhance regional water quality while addressing the lack of open public space, overpopulation, and an aging infrastructure within the Medina of Fez, the historic city. This includes proposals for restructuring tannery operations and securing the local leather industry, enhancing health standards, and improving the general environmental quality of the Medina.

“The Régie Autonome Distribution d'Eau & Électricité de Fés (RADEEF), the Department of Water and Power of the Municipality of Fez, is in the process of constructing two new sewage treatment facilities to free the Fez River from raw sewage. Aligned with this initiative, the RADEEF commissioned us to propose a rehabilitation plan for the river,” explained the design team from the Moroccan architect firm,  Bureau E.A.S.T.

“ Taking into consideration problems that plague the Medina of Fez such as the lack of open public space, overpopulation, and an aging infrastructure, the project is a strategic plan that addresses not only the ecology of the river but also the social and economic concerns of the city”.

Based on an analysis of Fez’s urban and ecological context, the project at the city scale (City of Fez, including the ville nouvelle and the Medina) is a master plan with recommended measures for improving regional water quality.

At site scale (parcels within the Medina), the project consists of three critical interventions strategically phased to enhance water quality, remediate contaminated sites, create open spaces, and build on existing resources for economic development.

“The overall effect is a project that elevates the river into an urban infrastructure for bridging the gap between the needs of a 21st-century population and the historical standards for preserving the integrity of a UNESCO World Heritage designation.”

Designed by:
Bureau E.A.S.T.

Design team:
Aziza Chaouni (principal); Takako Tajima (principal); Vesna Kann (designer); Dennis Rijkhoff (designer); Nicko Elliott (designer).

Additional credits:
Reem Alissa (Landscape Systems); Marco Cenzatti  (Industrial Districts); John Ferri (RAD-Corp, construction); Bonnie Kaplan (Medina Solutions, historic preservation and restoration in the Medina of Fez); Alex Toshkov (Columbia University, historian); Marieke van den Heuvel (Butterfly Works, marketing and branding); Faiza Zemmouri (Economic Redevelopment in Developing Countries, economist).

Partners:
Régie Autonome Distribution d'Eau & Électricité de Fés (RADEEF); Municipality of Fez, Morocco.

www.sauvons-ouedfez.com