Jardin Majorelle Opens Salsabil El Ouazzani’s Reed-and-Thatch Pavilion

A contemporary shelter made from the vocabulary of Morocco's rural landscape has joined the blue buildings and dense planting of Jardin Majorelle. Nouala, le refuge mobile opened to visitors on October 29, 2026, bringing the work of Moroccan architect Salsabil El Ouazzani into the Villa Oasis garden.

The pavilion's starting point is the nouala, the reed-and-thatch hut long used in parts of the Moroccan countryside. El Ouazzani has not reproduced a village structure as decoration. The building is deliberately light, made with natural materials and assembled to be taken apart. It is designed to sit among the garden's vegetation rather than compete with its celebrated architecture.

The project won the second Fondation Jardin Majorelle Prize on May 15, chosen from 34 submissions by young Moroccan architects. El Ouazzani studied at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. Its completion is therefore more significant than the installation of a new garden feature: the design competition has resulted in an actual public building.

Inside is Les oiseaux du Jardin Majorelle, an exhibition examining the birds that live in and visit the grounds. Its panels connect species to the layered planting, nesting places and water sources that make the garden a habitat. More than thirty bird species are discussed in the site's accompanying programme, with scientific input from ornithologists and ecologists.

This is the garden's second temporary pavilion. Its predecessor was designed by Hiba Bensalek and opened in 2025. The Foundation intends the series to renew on a roughly two-year cycle, allowing younger architects to develop work at a historic site that rarely changes its public-facing architecture.

The pavilion occupies the Villa Oasis garden within Jardin Majorelle, off Rue Yves Saint Laurent, outside Marrakech's Medina. It forms part of the usual garden visit rather than a separate ticketed venue; reports of the opening say the pavilion is not accessible on Wednesdays. Visitors should check the garden's current admission arrangements before travelling.

The Young Moroccan Architecture Awards' account of the completed pavilion confirms its October inauguration and the design's relationship with Moroccan vernacular construction. The accompanying image is a real photograph published with that architecture account.