Laâyoune Mohammed VI Polytechnic University

A hub of cutting-edge, environmentally-friendly architecture that produces 80% of its own energy, the UM6P university campus is a vision of a new way of teaching, incorporating living research laboratories dedicated to new environmental technologies and biomimetics. Our approach is based on the potential and the assets of the site, located in the heart of the wadi. We aim for optimal interaction between the building and its surroundings. We make use of the climate, the winds, the sand and the expertise of the Saharan coast to achieve the best environmental performance possible. Living tents – half-tents/half-dunes – criss-cross the landscape, with the buildings sheltering beneath them. Following the lines of the desert dunes, the enclosed walkway and the side streets branching off it are an allegory for the cracked earth of the wadi. Nature is a prominent feature of this walkway, covered by a canopy, which creates spaces for meetings and exchanges between people