Marrakech Modern: A Remodeled Riad for Rent - Remodelista
Photographs by Martin Raffone. Designers Martin Raffone and Bill McIntosh’s house, Dar Mahjouba, is like hundreds of other riads jammed cheek by jowl in the dense quarters of... ...Marrakech’s medina: a traditional Moroccan house with rooms ringing a central courtyard, and a roof terrace that provides the only view of an outside world. All of which makes their riad more than just palatable. The house isn’t so much whitewashed as dipped in cream. Candle lanterns are ubiquitous in Marrakech; for ease of use, Raffone and McIntosh electrified theirs and wired them to wall switches. Off the courtyard a lounge area, commonly referred to as the bhou, is the most traditional room, and Raffone’s favorite spot. A fig tree dominates the courtyard, providing the relief of shade plus greenery. Wood and rush stools from the souk neatly tuck under a stone-topped iron table designed by Raffone and McIntosh. Raffone designed a collection of linens, including this table runner, for Alnour, a local co-op that enlists the embroidery skills of women with disabilities. The ceramics and glassware were sourced locally, the flatware is Dine Noir from CB2, and the hand-shaped platter is the Como Aluminum Tray by Paola Navone from Crate & Barrel. As is traditional in riads, the rooms are long and narrow–a mere seven feet wide. The leather-studded side chair, campaign chair, and Beni Ouarain rug are from Mustapha Blaoui, a favorite local source. At the opposite end of the living room, concrete shelves finished in tadelakt echo the horizontal ribs of the hearth. The use of only three materials–local black marble for the counter and backsplash, black floor tile, and tadelakt (creamy for the walls and ceiling, black for the counter base)–make for a streamlined and graphic kitchen. (Learn about the benefits of downlights in Remodeling 101: How to Install Flattering Lighting.) A wall of steel and glass brings light to one end of a long guest room, and introduces a note of modern architecture to the house. A double set of curtains, sheer and opaque, from West Elm, modulates light and privacy. A narrow slot, beveled to admit more light to the interior, captures a slice of the painted wooden screen of the mashrabiya, a traditional oriel window enclosed by latticework. A view from the second-floor loggia of the mashrabiya. Sheer linen curtains soften the posts of the loggia. The carved posts elevated on wire bases are tent stakes used by the nomadic Tuareg people of the Sahara. The loggia’s lights are a Raffone design of oxidized brass that hangs from hooks affixed to steel plates. In the master bedroom, the designers introduced open shelves in place of a closet that occupied a niche. The earthy throw rug comes from the natural wool of local sheep. A painting by Raffone stands next to a banded wooden tray used in the souks for serving tea (sometimes elevated on legs as a portable table) and at home for holding rising bread. A built-in tadelakt ledge with a niche serves as a headboard for a banquette used as both sofa and bed in a narrow guest room. The riad’s bathrooms are all seamless formations of gray tadelakt. The mirror was made by a man in the neighborhood who hand carves the frames and stains them with shoe polish. Uplit olive trees in terracotta pots set the rooftop terrace aglow. Source Moroccan design in our archive and tour La Mamounia’s Royal Gardens on Gardenista.