photo taken by gili merin
OMA’s conception of Agadir Convention Centre merges two approaches of design, site-specificity and social condensing, into an idealized abstraction. The hyper-contextualization of the landscape and culture of Agadir into basic forms creates a loose, if noticeable, relationship to its site. The design functions as a social condenser through the aggregation of any program that might serve populators of the convention center, which range from auditoriums and hotels to religious spaces and nightlife destinations. OMA’s idealization of the centre speaks to the conditions of Agadir in 1990, during its conception, but the prototype fails when established in the present. The realistic appropriation of space in the convention center, specifically in the current context of consumer-driven global tourism, is transformed into a less glamorous conglomeration of falsified Moroccan culture.
agadir after the earthquake in 1960
Historically, Agadir was a coastal fishing village where Morocco meets the Atlantic Ocean. In the early sixteenth century Europeans began to visit and settle the land, creating a new mixture of Eastern and Western cultures in Morocco. The Portugese installed themselves in Agadir and established the city as an important trading port for the rest of Europe, until an earthquake in 1731 destroyed the town and the port was moved elsewhere.
The Portugese, Dutch, German, French, Spanish, and English have all tried to stake a claim in Agadir, and found uses for the city as a rest stop in trade and seafaring pursuits.
In the 1930’s the French began to establish the modern city center of Agadir, introducing urban planning, structures, and a waterfront to the city which were upheld by the local government.
On the 29th of February in 1960, a 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit Agadir, which destroyed nearly the entire town and killed one third of its population. The new city of Agadir was built two kilometers away from its predecessor, and re-established itself as a fishing city, major trading port, and pleasure destination.
In 1990, a competition held by the Palm Bay Company called for 'a new cultural center in Agadir. OMA entered a bid known as the Agadir Convention Centre, but it did not win. The project was intended to be a cultural epicenter for Agadir and Morocco, offering theaters, cinemas, a casino, and a hotel.
By the end of the 20th century and into the 21st, Agadir has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in Morocco. It boasts several resorts, golf-courses, camel tours, and anything else “traditionally Moroccan” that comes to mind. As well as a thriving urban city and populated city center and nightlife.
no stop city, archizoom, 1970
instant city, archigram, 1969
Inspired by the works of the Soviet Constructivist Social Condenser and architecture derived by Archigram and Archizoom in No-Stop City and Instant City, the goal of this project was to create a playscape where anything can happen if given the right architectural environment.
Agadir Convention Centre acts as a place for convergence of peoples and places and things. A sharing of cultures, ideas, and experiences. The building enables this through its use of the visible and invisible programs. The landscape engages the visitors while the more specified programs are located inside, out of view.
The program of the surface integrates pedestrians, vehicles, and vertical circulation with programs like reception and bars. These are rigid programs that take up little physical space on the floor plan, leaving the rest of the landscape to be inhabited as the user wants, following the suggestions that the building form provides. Similar to the Free University of Berlin allowing variation of program in the layout, Agadir accounts for spontaneity by leaving the program open to interpretation. In OMA’s Parc de la Villette the method of exploiting the program through scale, strips of program, confetti structure, strips, was a test method for the programmability of the space and scale of the program that was later iterated upon and executed in the Agadir Convention Centre.
iconic section of agadir convention centre
The dune acts as a hyper-realistic rendition of the deserts of Morocco, contextualizing it in a fabricated and structured environment, bridging the void between landscape and building. The base topography is reflected above itself to create mirroring of dunes. The building’s original purpose was to place the more private functions inside these mountains of terrain while the public aspects occured in the spatial void between the two.
To build the model we proceeded with creating a waffle structure and divided the model into 6 slices each divided down the middle. This was for two reasons, the first, practicality to move the model around and secondly to create a part to whole system of viewing the model. The pieces can be seen in isolation of one another, each representing an “iconic section” of Agadir landscape and when put together create the entire rendering of the building. The waffle base is also separate from the top mass in order to view the building and its ground floor in depth.
In building an interlocking structure, we are proposing a more contemporary fabrication technique for Agadir Convention Centre compared to that of OMA .
Metropol Parasol: a contemporary interlocking structure
The original idea for the building was to mold sand and cast concrete on top of it to create its iconic form. The grid structure we created would allow for the form to exist while maintaining what happens inside the dunes as well. This way is a more pre-fabricated and practical approach.
Our grid also reiterates the disorder of the plan. The architectural elements like the forest of columns do not align to the grid, instead they deviate slightly from one another in positioning and sizing. However, this layout is important for populating the landscape because the columns create voids and clusters, suggesting to the inhabitants areas of occupation and congregation.
floorplan showing gathering spaces
perspective view of "field of columns"
physical model
Rem Koolhaas shows Coney Island as the test-bed for Manhattanism - a surreal environment to which New Yorkers escaped from the congestion of their city to experiment with a;ternative lifestyles within the same context of congestion
basement plan of agadir convention centre
The new “tourist oriented” Agadir Experience is focused on the two different user groups, the visitor and the local. For the visitor the building is a collection of attractions exemplifying their idea of Morocco and the familiar. When in the desert why not go to Starbucks, and take a camel ride, 25% off the original price! For the local, they experience the space as a reclaiming of their own context and history, but in a way that is still foreign to them. Locals are who keep the hotel and luxury spaces running, run the stores, and populate the bazaars, but is the instagramable experience still reaching them? Agadir the Tourist Destination can be whatever the visitor wants it to be and however the local makes it.
section of agadir convention centre
The social condenser operates as the building machine, inside the thickness of the dunes are the operations that keep the building running from day to day. Spaces of the old convention center have been reappropriated to accommodate the new programs and user groups, eliminating what is not popular enough for visitors.
Auditoriums become storage spaces, a new CEO’s office is installed, as well as countless other experiential spaces depending on how much you can afford to pay. What brings people to Agadir is no longer the location itself but the time spent inside there.
The landscape is activated still just as OMA intended, but this time with animals, tent cities, and shopping centers. The convergence of people from all locations keeps the idea of the social condenser going, however it is more segregated than ever. The classes and people can divide themselves amongst the sprawling landscape and sand dunes and stay as together or seperate from the others as they choose.