W[oa]ndering Medina

Abstract

W[oa]ndering Medina is a visitor center that embraces and highlights the dynamics of mutual exchange between the UNESCO site “Medina of Marrakesh” and its visitors – or rather, all users of the urban space, including residents and those that have the opportunity to pass through it. The very name of the center – W[oa]ndering Medina – stems from an undeniable and defining characteristic of the Medina: its labyrinthine layout, which inevitably leads every visitor to lose and find their way over and over again. This name references the two fundamental actions essential to experiencing the Medina: wandering, the act of roaming through its intricate fabric, and wondering, the sense of awe in discovering its beauty, revealed step by step. To make these two actions explicit, the project is based on an in-depth reading of the site, its urban fabric, the relationships that shape it, and its multiple identities – ranging from an imperial city to a Berber trade hub and even an exotic destination for the cultural elite of fashion and design – and on the incorporation of the objectives defined by UNESCO for visitor centers in World Heritage Sites (UNESCO, The Role of Visitor Centres in UNESCO Designated Sites, 2019).The proposal is structured around two key components: an urban project, offering a comprehensive vision and experience of the Medina; the design of the visitor center within El Badi Palace, which serves as the official visitor center for the UNESCO site. In this sense, the W[oa] ndering Medina visitor center is not conceived as a centralized hub, nor as a starting or ending point, but rather as a strategic and highly sensitive node within a vast and intricate network – one that, in all its complexity and potential, encompasses the entire UNESCO site. Layout of the urban project Certain elements of the Medina’s fabric – recognized as both structural and structuring in its general composition, as well as fundamental to the experience within it – serve as the foundation for an urban project designed around key moments of the visit. At these designated points, several devices are placed which, when applied to various urban surfaces – both vertical and horizontal – serve as elements of orientation and understanding of the place. In particular, the system of walls and gates, which form the first point of contact between the Medina and its users, marks the moment of entry, where each threshold becomes the starting point (incipit) of a journey. Once inside, the Medina’s dense and intricate pattern, in which visitors find themselves immersed (and, to some extent, disoriented), defines the moment of exploration where a network of paths and narrative threads guides visitors through the city, encouraging them to get lost and find their way again, following a coordinated graphic and communicative strategy. Within the urban fabric, encounters with a network of points of interest – riads, gardens, monuments – shape the moment of discovery, where each designated site offers a deeper understanding of a specific aspect or reality of the Medina. Finally, major landmarks – such as Jemaa el-Fnaa square, as well as the visitor center located within El Badi Palace – define the moment of knowledge, where the most profound and complete unveiling of the Medina and its meanings takes place. For the implementation of UNESCO objectives The W[oa]ndering Medina proposal – both in its urban project and in the visitor center at El Badi Palace – aligns with the key areas of interest outlined in the report The role of Visitor Centres in UNESCO Designated Sites (UNESCO, 2019). It introduces a new formal expressiveness to the context, connects previously isolated areas, and enhances the visibility and accessibility of the site’s unique qualities. The project focuses on some main core goals regarding different stakeholders, taking the possible ways of using the sites as main stimulus: from the ordinary tourist