THE YOUNG MOROCCAN ARCHITECTURE AWARDS UNVEIL THEIR WINNERS!

During a memorable evening, the YOUNG MORROCAN ARCHITECTURE AWARDS (YMAA) lifted the veil on the winners of their very first edition. This Monday, December 5, 2022, a festive atmosphere reigned at the Sofitel Casablanca Tour Blanche where a total of 26 trophies were awarded to celebrate Morocco’s young architectural scene.

The YOUNG MOROCCAN ARCHITECTURE AWARDS (YMAA) is a competition that sheds light on the young emerging Moroccan architects as well as their outstanding achievements. A first of its kind in Africa and the Arab world, YMAA was initiated and organized by the Archimedia group, the first and leading media for architecture and construction on the African continent.

This evening of revelation of the winners has awarded the best projects as selected by a jury of their peers and which was presided by none other than Mr. Taoufik El Oufir whose reputation precedes him. The jury reviewed and debated 80 outstanding projects nominated in 21 diverse and varied categories and announced the winners by category as follows:

·        Intervention in medina : Fatimzohra Tahiri Alaoui for the renovation of a Riad in Essaouira

·        Special prize for Zévaco : Tarik Zoubdi for the “Concrete Phrontistery” 

·        Collective housing : Younes Diouri for the Horizon Hill 

·        Cultural Space : Salma Dioury for American Arts Center

·        Health & Wellness : Sofiya Iraqi for Ks Dental

·        Pre-school and primary education : Youssef Lahkim for El Farah School

·        Secondary and higher education : Tarik Zoubdi for the “Concrete Phrontistery” 

·        Individual residential housing : IBDAA Group for Villa For Loft

·        Retail and commercial architecture : Dina Bennani for Choco Chino

·        Leisure and tourism: Abdelhakim Guilmi for H&G Guest House

·        Interior design and decoration: Dina Bennani for “Villa privée

·        Gastronomy spaces : AGA Studio for the Fresh & Bio house

·        Small individual housing : Mounia Radouane for villa VPDN

·        Large house : Abdelhakim Guilmi for villa KLM

·        Renovation and rehabilitation: Mounia Radouane for AAA Apartment

·        Office space : Lamia Hamriti for Payment Center for Africa

·        Sustainable and environmental building: Fatima Zahra Bendahmane for CIE Tata

·        Wooden architecture : Younes Diouri for ACSA Club tennis

·        Ephemeral architecture : Merouane Oussama Zouaoui for Tafedna domes

·        First work : IBDAA Group – Villa Albertini

·        Out of category : S+R Architecture Workshop for automotive equipment manufacturers in Tangier.

View the results : https://ymaa.ma/resultats-ymaa-22/

In addition to these awards, three Distinctions were also awarded; “The Building of the Year” with the CIE project of Tata by Fatima-Zahra Bendahmane; “The favorite of the public” based on public voting to  Youssef Benjelloun; and finally the “Archimedia prize” to Ghita Adyel with the Ibn Batouta Museum project in Tangier.

The student architects were not left out as they were also awarded with the best female Graduation Project won by Lina Meskine for “Narration in architecture” and the best male Graduation Project won by Fatmi Achraf Merzouk for “Towards a hospital architecture: Bouregreg hospital center”.  Lastly, two special mentions were awarded to two graduation projects: The first mention for innovation was awarded to Zineb Lemseffer for her graduation project entitled “A interpreter”; and a special mention for excellence was awarded to Sofia El Alami for “Kobenhavn Conference Hall”.

Celebrating architecture in Morocco, YMAA, through this gala of great magnitude has brought together renowned actors in the field of architecture and construction in Morocco. Testimonies, sharing of experiences, and warm ambiances rocked by jazz music were at the rendezvous this evening where colleagues met to celebrate architecture in Morocco.