Kasbah Bab Ourika

Kasbah Bab Ourika sits on a hilltop forty-five minutes south of Marrakech in the Ourika Valley, where the road climbs out of the city's orbit and the Atlas Mountains begin to take over the skyline. The building is constructed in pisé, traditional rammed earth, the walls the same ochre as the hillside they rise from, the whole structure settled into the landscape with the conviction of something built to last. Forty-two rooms face outward across the valley, views taking in the river below, terraced green fields on the opposite slope, and the snow-capped Atlas peaks at the horizon on clear days. Villa and pool suite configurations offer the most private arrangements, each with its own outdoor space and uninterrupted sightlines to the mountains. The outdoor pool is positioned at an elevation that places the Atlas range at eye level, the water's edge apparently continuous with the valley drop below. Citrus, orange and olive trees grow on the terraces below the building, their fruit contributing to the kitchen's daily preparation. The property's elevation removes it from the noise of the valley road; what replaces it is the particular silence of a hilltop in a place where altitude and isolation reinforce each other. The rammed-earth construction means the building holds its temperature through the day's heat, cooling slowly in the way that the Berber villages of the valley have always managed, the material performing what the landscape requires without mechanical assistance.