Earlier this year, project ideas about Morocco that have circulated around the Internet have been more in the realm of science fiction than reality, from the bacteria-and-sand settlement in the Sahara desert, to a vertical city of glass, also in the desert.
But Thom Mayne's Morphosis Architects released designs for a building that will be constructed in a more hospitable part of the kingdom—the Casablanca Finance City tower, named after the nation’s chief port and most populous city in which it will be built.
The design involves a crown-shaped pinnacle that is mirrored by the tapered, asymmetrical base. The ground level will offer public space, which the designers hope “will serve as [a] social symbol and meeting place,” ArchDaily reports. The building will have a total of 226,042 sf. Ground broke in December 2014, and the project is slated for a 2017 completion.
According to ArchDaily, the tower will anchor a new business district being planned, Casablanca Finance City, similar to the glass and concrete business La Défense section at the outskirts of Paris, which towers over the city’s historical quarters from a distance.
“The first tower planned [for the Casablanca Finance City] has a critical role in the development, symbolizing Morocco’s vision for the future and setting precedents in building performance, scale, and style for a city that does not yet exist,” the firm said in a statement.
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