Taddart TagoukhtPlaces for learning and gathering

Nestled in the Tassaout Valley of Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains at 2,000 metres above sea level, the Taddart Tagoukht project is a civic and educational centre for the Amazigh village of Tagoukht, home to about 500 residents. Funded by the re:arc institute, it brings together a preschool, teacher accommodation, a women’s artisan training centre and a community garden.

Community engagement was central to the design. Participatory workshops, site visits and ongoing dialogue with village associations, women artisans and community representatives shaped the brief: early childhood education, local craftsmanship and its transmission, women’s economic empowerment, and civic spaces for gatherings and cultural events.

Drawing on ancestral vernacular architecture, the project combines rammed earth, stone masonry, timber structures and earth and lime plasters. Local techniques were adapted to improve thermal comfort, durability and seismic resilience, notably through the use of structural elements in lime concrete.

During construction, the village’s only access road was closed for works — echoing the meaning of Tagoukht in Tamazight: “the most remote.” This constraint favoured locally available materials: the earth for the rammed walls and plasters comes from on-site excavation spoils.

Organised across three terraces following the topography, the project minimises earthworks, integrates rainwater collection and clarifies the relationships between programmes. Water strategies draw on ancestral systems such as notfia-type reservoirs. The project grew out of a trust-based model between the design team, the local associations, the international funder and the construction contractor, which supports its long-term sustainability.