Project: LM House
Architects: Elements Lab
Location: Casablanca, Morocco
Area: 5,112 sf
Photographs by: Doublespace Photography
LM House by Elements Lab
The LM House is a wonderful contemporary residence designed by Elements Lab. This 5,112 square foot home is located in Casablanca, Morocco where homes are quickly replacing trees. Elements Lab have had this in mind when designing this residence. They have made sure to create a beautiful lush garden that is going to serve as a refreshing sight. The home’s concrete exterior is surrounded by greenery from every side which creates an interesting contrast.
Casablanca, the economic capital of Morocco, is a hyperactive and chaotic city of nearly 5 million inhabitants where cars are steadily replacing trees. When designing a home for my family, I had in mind the idea of a quiet place away from chaos, a fortress against the constant agitation of everyday life.
Gradually, this idea was nourished by the image of the Riad, this typical Arab-Andalusian house modestly closed off from the public and open in its center on a planted patio. Source of light and fresh air, the patio is also a peaceful and luminous counterbalance of the narrow streets typical of the ancient Medinas.
Located in the heart of Oasis, a residential neighborhood relatively close to the city center, the land plot that was to receive Villa LM did not allow for the architectural typology of a Riad; comprised notably of a dense, pedestrian urban fabric dating before the advent of the automobile.
It was then necessary to adapt the intimate essence of the Riad to a modern typology inherited from the French protectorate, namely a town house with a garden around the periphery: the exact opposite of the riad. Thus was born this house conceived as a protective bunker in the middle of a shield of greenery.
