earth raised into architecture
leopold banchini architect’s family residence just beyond marrakech
there are special residences that rise from the land not as structures, but as extensions of it.
born of soil, straw, and sunlight. leopold banchini’s private architectural family residence just beyond marrakech is one of these. a home that does not stand on the earth, but with it.
i feel here, the ground is not forgotten. it breathes through the walls. through every hand-pressed layer of rammed earth, through each shadow that folds across each space, reflecting and intuitively directed by panels inside. beneath your feet, the earth remains. patient. carrying the home as it once carried seed.
there is a quiet reverence. for the berber way of building, and of living. for a beautiful culture that holds the earth not as resource, but as relative. the berber rhythm of life. unhurried, grounded. woven through craft, care, and connection is something I deeply adore. it teaches that beauty is not made, it is revealed through respect.
we stepped on stones between water. a pond mirroring the sky. soft ripples greeting each step.
and in that passage, something within you slows and remind me that beauty need not be declared. it can be crossed, felt, absorbed.
there is something special and ancient here. woven into the land itself. two vital infrastructures crossing the desert plot, the mesref and the khetara. a water channel, a hidden underground gallery, reminders that the surrounding loved lands have always been shaped by care. by hands that understand the delicate balance between earth and water.
this architectural home follows those lines, creating a home that breathes with the same pulse. in tune with the mesref’s quiet flow and the khetara’s secret paths. here, the earth speaks of a history.
endless rammed earth walls, irrigated plains. and the quiet persistence of life, carried by the unseen flow of water beneath the surface.
water moves here, inside and out. a garden held in water, a body of water, for swimming. opening to the sky.
the boundary between interior and landscape dissolves, light and reflection becoming part of the architecture itself. it feels as though the house remembers that water is not merely element, but the essence of life.
light in morocco has its own rhythm. gold one moment, ochre the next, drifting across the earth walls like liquid memory. leopold’s architecture knows this language. he listens to the sun, lets it write upon the surfaces and become part of the homes presence. there is no hurry here, only an appreciation of time. i photographed between these moments. when no artificial light was needed. with the intention to capture the depth of beauty that is felt in this stillness.
each texture tells a story. straw that once swayed in the wind, clay that once held the scent of rain. hands that pressed, smoothed, and believed. even the rocks, gathered from the land itself find purpose here. used to hold the panels in place, quietly anchoring beauty with simplicity. to touch these walls is to feel both the present and the ancestral. the seen and the remembered.
something i love so much is how leopold translates the intangible into form. light becomes tenderness. silence becomes design. water becomes threshold. and somehow, amidst all its quiet precision, it feels utterly human.
to capture this home and to witness leopold’s vision so deeply grounded in the land,
has been one of the greatest honours of my journey with my camera. a home so connected to earth. so sincere in its stillness. asks not for documentation, but for presence.
leopold’s work has always spoken to me this way. gentle in conviction. ture to material. unafraid of restraint. the grounded kind of grace that belongs to those who build not to impress, but to honour.
this incredible home feels like a love letter to the land it stands upon. each line, each carefully considered detail, a gesture of gratitude. it reminds me that architecture can be more than shelter. it can be memory, shaped by care. and beauty, when born from honesty, becomes timeless.
to leopold and your stunningly beautiful residence. thank you for showing me again
that the earth is not just where we build. it is who we are.
with stillness, awe, and light,
poetry of architecture,
my ongoing personal exploration.
sarah jessica marie burns xx