Casablanca hotels collection

Auguste Perret tried out his thin concrete vaults on the docks of Casablanca, before Le Havre. The docks are gone; the city kept the material and dressed it. Along Boulevard Mohammed V, the buildings of the interwar years round off their corners, edge their balconies with wrought iron and slip friezes of zellige beneath the cornices. In the Habous, French architects drew up a new medina, complete with arcades and narrow lanes. Facing the Atlantic, the Hassan II Mosque stands out on its promontory, and the faithful pray above the water; in fine weather its roof slides back, and the prayer hall opens onto the sky.