Towards Sustainable Guéliz District: A Data-Driven Methodology for Preserving Architectural Heritage and Achieving Sustainable Development in Marrakech

Guéliz is a district of Marrakech built during the French Protectorate in Morocco. It was designed with a focus on tourism, enhancing the landscape features and the architecture of the Medina. Characterized by a blend of architectural styles—Rationalism, Art Decò, Art Nouveau, and Academia—Guéliz's buildings are emerging as a part of the city's recent heritage alongside those in the Medina. However, recent years have seen substantial changes altering the district's form and many of its buildings. Some heritage sites are abandoned or in dire need of renovation, while others have been refurbished without consideration for their historical significance. In response, local authorities are striving to raise awareness of Guéliz's recent heritage importance. This effort involves establishing design guidelines to regulate renovations and conservation pursuing sustainable development. This paper seeks to address this context by developing a comprehensive repository of information about Guéliz's recent heritage using a multi-scale, multi-level methodology. The multi-scale approach delves into the history and urban design of the district to understand the relevance of each building. Meanwhile, the multi-level analysis entails examining cadastral sheets, floor plans, and documents while conducting historical, architectural, structural, and decay analyses. Digital technologies are used to conduct the analysis, in particular photogrammetry and HBIM. The first supports the survey of buildings and the decay analysis. HBIM models of the buildings are used as a repository of the results of the different analyses. The methodology was tested on many Guéliz buildings, with three presented in this paper. As a result, the methodology showcases the relevance of providing local administration with a digital repository, aiding informed interventions for preserving Guéliz's recent heritage. Some important topics to consider in the drafting of intervention guidelines were addressed.