The 25-story Casablanca Finance City Tower has become the first project to be completed in the newly-established Casablanca Finance City, a new business district being developed in Morocco's Anfa District.
The Casablanca Finance City Tower’s design draws on the openness of the surrounding area, which gave the designers the opportunity in an otherwise dense city to highlight the relationship between the building and the natural environment.
“The Casablanca Finance City Tower and its innovative design was conceived to have long-lasting impact and to signal a new era of economic prosperity for Morocco,” said Morphosis Founding Partner Thom Mayne in a release. “This tower brings together a range of global industries in the heart of the country, galvanizing international investment in North Africa, while also providing a template for the future development of the district as it continues to grow.”
A brise-soleil system wraps the building to protect against the sun while allowing the building to harness external elements to regulate natural light, air, and temperatures internally. The facade draws inspiration from traditional geometric patterned mosaics and wooden latticework screens characteristic of Moroccan architecture.
A tapered crown tops the 400-foot structure, while at street level the building engages the lower urban landscape with exterior public programming that invites the community into adjacent public spaces. This allows the building to serve as both a symbol of the city’s development and as a social hub that nurtures an active street life in the district.
Casablanca Finance City Tower is designed to achieve all LEED Gold certification.
Related Stories
Office Buildings | Apr 2, 2024
SOM designs pleated façade for Star River Headquarters for optimal daylighting and views
In Guangzhou, China, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has designed the recently completed Star River Headquarters to minimize embodied carbon, reduce energy consumption, and create a healthy work environment. The 48-story tower is located in the business district on Guangzhou’s Pazhou Island.
High-rise Construction | Feb 23, 2024
Designing a new frontier in Seattle’s urban core
Graphite Design Group shares the design for Frontier, a 540,000-sf tower in a five-block master plan for Seattle-based tech leader Amazon.
Luxury Residential | Feb 1, 2024
Luxury 16-story condominium building opens in Chicago
The Chicago office of architecture firm Lamar Johnson Collaborative (LJC) yesterday announced the completion of Embry, a 58-unit luxury condominium building at 21 N. May St. in Chicago’s West Loop.
Biophilic Design | Jan 16, 2024
New supertall Manhattan tower features wraparound green terraces
At 66 stories and 1,031.5 ft high, The Spiral is BIG’s first supertall building and first commercial high-rise in New York.
Products and Materials | Nov 30, 2023
Top building products for November 2023
BD+C Editors break down 15 of the top building products this month, from horizontal sliding windows to discreet indoor air infusers.
Senior Living Design | Nov 7, 2023
Age-restricted affordable housing community opens in Rockville, Md.
Residences on the Lane boasts a total of 150 units, each designed to cater to various income levels for seniors aged 62 and up.
Luxury Residential | Oct 18, 2023
One Chicago wins 2023 International Architecture Award
One Chicago, a two-tower luxury residential and mixed-use complex completed last year, has won the 2023 International Architecture Award. The project was led by JDL Development and designed in partnership between architecture firms Goettsch Partners and Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture.
Office Buildings | Oct 16, 2023
The impact of office-to-residential conversion on downtown areas
Gensler's Duanne Render looks at the incentives that could bring more office-to-residential conversions to life.
Office Buildings | Sep 28, 2023
Structural engineering solutions for office-to-residential conversion
IMEG's Edwin Dean, Joe Gulden, and Doug Sweeney, share seven key focuses for structural engineers when planning office-to-residential conversions.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2023
Top 115 Architecture Engineering Firms for 2023
Stantec, HDR, Page, HOK, and Arcadis North America top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture engineering (AE) firms for nonresidential building and multifamily housing work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.