A women's center FOR Imloul
A couple of years ago, together with the help of the people of the village, the community started to build a women’s house.
The house would become the place for women to cook and sell bread, manufacture carpets following the traditional techniques, and store locally-sourced honey.
Imloul is located in one of the most attractive areas of Morocco, between the Atlas mountains and the Sahara desert, Imloul sits quietly along the Dadès river. Houses are made of earth and rocks and organised organically on the sides of the hills. Between the houses and the river there is a perennial palmerai which provides the community with fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as natural materials for constructing roofs, canopies and also temporary shades during hot summer days. The majority of the population is Amazir (berber) instantly recognisable by their clothing, their production of crafts and in their openness towards foreigners.
The women's association
The women's association of Imloul is a group of women who usually spend their days taking care of their families.
But they are also dedicated to the production of crafts and other activities, which contribute to the well-being of their families and of the community and can generate income to support their livelihoods.
The president of the association is Meryem, a young woman who has been nominated president of the association by her community. She works as teacher in a school located five hours away from her home and her dream is to work in the women’s house of Imloul and enhance their engagement.
The women are a very engaged and skillful community, engaging in activities such as bee keeping and honey production, farming, tapestry, culinary arts etc.
Our collaboration aims to build a home to ensure the future of the association.
We believe the women's house could change these women’s lives, by not only providing them with a convenient space to work on their crafts bus also serving as a venue where they could come together to share their knowledge, skills and learn new ones as well. It will also provide a welcoming and safe environment both for them and their kids, allowing them to work together boost their motivation and enhance their engagements. Therefore, It will make it possible for the women to improve their knowledge, skill and wellbeing, benefitting not only themselves, but also their families and the community at large.
The project
The women’s house of Imloul is a project which was self-initiated by the community and the women’s association.
After building the bearing walls with rammed earth technique, the work stopped due to lack of money. This is why, together with the local community, we had the idea of looking for funding in order to complete this ambitious project.
Working with us, the women expressed their need to have a room where they could keep their kids while they are busy in the house, a communal kitchen with connection to the outside to sell baked products, a workshop place with storage for the production of carpets and a communal room for big meetings and an office.
The project is going to be realised in two phases: during the first phase we will work on the left-hand side of the building. This involves the kitchen, communal room, office and patio. When this phase is completed the communal room will also serve temporarily as a workshop space. From that moment onwards the women will be able to start their activities and make the space their own. During the second phase we will work on the right-hand side of the building. This involves the realisation of the workshop space, children’s room and the landscaping of the outdoor spaces.
In the construction we will use natural locally-sourced materials, trying to avoid the use of concrete blocks which are cheaper but not sustainable. The existing rammed earth bearing walls are in good condition but need to be reinforced with stones at the bottom. As per local tradition, the roof structure will be in wood and the roof build-up in earth with addition of sand and straw in different sizes and quantities. When possible, we will use different sections of palm tree trunks, taken from dead or fallen trees, as primary and secondary beams. Once the roofs are done, we will proceed with electrical cabling, built-in kitchen cabinets, the bedding of the floors and walls and floor finishes, involving local craftsmen and potters
Rammed earth technique
Rammed earth construction technique is a natural building method of compressing a sandy earth mixture into a hard sandstone-like structure, which has a long history in many parts of the world.
Formwork is the key to building with rammed earth, and the better the formwork is, the faster and more accurate the construction will be. Rammed earth’s thermal performance and characteristics will lead to lower energy usage in heating and cooling costs.
The building team
After working together in Ouled Merzouk, we team up again!
The local building team has collaborated with us to create a planning for the building site, providing us with all the support to complete the list of materials we would need, calculating the price and the duration of all the different phases of the construction process.
The building team consists of four maalems (Arabic for specialised workers) and four regular workers. The salary has been agreed with the building site manager according to the local standards.
All decisions and agreements are taken according to the wishes of the women’s association. Our collective work will be based on participation and has the aim to realise the women’s vision for their own building.
