There are places one visits, and others one breathes. The Immeuble Assayag belongs to the second family. Behind the silhouette of its three towers, raised at the heart of Casablanca since 1930, the building conceived by Marius Boyer reveals itself as a walk: a succession of spaces in which light, air and the city never cease to speak to one another.
The light of the verrières
It all begins with daylight. Great verrières (the tall glazed screens) light the stairwells and let natural light circulate freely from floor to floor. Depending on the hour, this brightness turns vivid or soft; it slides along the handrails, hugs a curve, reveals a detail one thought one already knew. To climb one of the Assayag’s staircases is to pass through a column of light.
This taste for daylight caught and then passed on is one of the building’s signature features. The stairwells here are not mere passageways: they are interior lanterns, vertical breathing spaces, whose drawing and vocabulary are set out in detail on the Design and architecture page.
Terraces open to Casablanca
On the terraces the walk changes register. They open wide onto the city: the rooftops, the streets, the white light of Casablanca as far as the eye can see. Architecture then ceases to be a setting one contemplates; it becomes a balcony held out towards the horizon, a place where one comes simply to take the air and watch the city live.
It is here that the name of this page takes on its full meaning. After the spaces, the air: the sky, the wind, the murmur of the city rising to the terraces like a familiar presence.
The rhythm of the three towers
Seen from the street, the three towers give the ensemble its tempo. Lines that soar, curves that answer them: the whole spirit of Art Deco is there, held together by a composition of great coherence, which has made the building one of Casablanca’s recognisable silhouettes.
“Between the lines of my plans and the curves of my buildings, I have sought to weave a harmonious dialogue between Moroccan tradition and Western modernity, embodying thereby the cultural bridge that Casablanca represents, a city of history and of the future.”
— Marius Boyer
Continuing the walk
The Immeuble Assayag remains a private, lived-in residence: its spaces can be discovered from the inside only on the occasion of cultural events, such as the Journées du Patrimoine (Casablanca’s annual heritage open days) — the practical information is gathered on the Visits, Location & Access page. Until you can push open its door, the gallery carries this walk on in pictures, from the glazed screens to the terraces, through the hours and the seasons.