Nausicaa Wellness Centre: Fès

The study of the historical and cultural context was a fundamental starting point for architectural forms and materials. Fez is the ancient capital of Morocco and home to the oldest university in the world. The old city, the medina, declared a Unesco World Heritage Site, with its palaces, its mosques rising within a maze of streets lined with shops, stalls and numerous fountains. This was the starting point and source of inspiration who guided the concept of the architectural project. The external appearance of the building is therefore the result of a precise desire to recall, with materials and forms, the tradition of the place, restored and renewed, however, in a contemporary key. The need for a filter between outdoor and indoor spaces and the function of the various rooms characterised the volumes of the façade, which were treated materially in different ways: the ground floor, almost completely glazed, hosting the waiting room, the reception and a connecting corridor lit by high glass windows providing light to the multi-functional rooms; the first floor characterised on the façade by a metal screen, shows a design which was the result of a geometric study of the mosaics, enabling the light to filter through the various rooms but at the same time to remain a visual filter for the outside; the second floor uses the same texture used for the metal screen, was reproposed for a ceramic coating where the swimming pool is located; the same metal mesh was then stack on the glass inside the room creating an evocative night view.