ARCHITECTURAL LANDMARK

The Kasbah of Udayas

Represented by RANIA ABABSSI

The location and history of the construction :

• Located at the mouth of the Bou Regreg River in Rabat,

Morocco. The Kasbah of Udayas is a fortification to protect
Rabat city and other settlement from potential aggressors
was originally built in the 12th century and although it has
been destroyed several times, it was rebuilt again. In the era
of the Alawites, the Kasbah witnessed several developments
such as the construction of the Amiri Palace and some
military installations which played an important role in
protecting the Kasbah. Many facilities of the Kasbah,
especially the court and the prison, played a pivotal role
throughout history. UNESCO recognized the significance of
the Oudaya Kasbah and added it to the World Heritage
Tentative List in 2006
 Description :

• The upper or northern part of the kasbah, above the

museum, dates mostly from its foundation/reconstruction in
the Almohad period under Caliph Ya'qub al-Mansur in the
12th century, while the lower parts date from the 18th
century during the Alaouite period.[6][4] The northern part of
the kasbah is centered around the Street of the Mosque (Rue
Jamaa), which runs between the Bab Oudaia gate and the
semaphore platform, passing by the kasbah's Old Mosque.
[17] The southern part is taken up to a large extent by the
Andalusian Gardens, the Oudayas Museum, and a
longstanding nearby café and terrace known as Café Maure.
 Bab Oudaia, caracteristique :

• The massive Walls of Kasbah can only be crossed by

entering the appropriate city gate and supplemented with
towers. And the most dramatic entry to the Oudaya Kasbah
is through the enormous Almohad gate, called Bab Oudaia.
Built-in 1195, its location, where it faces the heart of the city
and just outside the original palace, made it more
ceremonial than defensive. The gateway is built of dressed
stones and is decorated with a series of carved arches
which makes it one of the jewels of Almohad art.
 The building structure : 

• The technique used is Stacked Stone which is a building

method that's been used for centuries to create structures with
carefully positioned stones to interlock for strength and durability
and lime mortar which is a combination creates a paste used as a
bedding and adhesive to bind and fill the gaps between adjacent
blocks, It connects the rough stones together and afford a kind of
stability. Using mortar, It allows a large structures to be constructed
from small, easy-to-handle components like in our case stone and
brick.

• while the form of stone is different ; the ones with urregular forms
belong to the 12th century while the part shaped as bricks to the 18
century. Many renovations has been done till nowadays to the
Kasbah in order to preserve its unique structure. In the last one they
used another technique which is Bricklaying for the Bab oudaia
gate. 
 Process of construction :

• STACKED STONE defense WALL using lime

mortar :

The start is always neccesit reparing the

lime mortar by mixing sand, lime and water, in
the wall that consist of odd sizes, some small,
some large they used to split a the larger
stones with a cold chisel and a club hammer
and the smaller ones in mortar. The stones
needs to be laid in courses. In the top courses,
the mortar can still be seen on the surface of
the stone, but getting lower down the joints
have been pointed, so that the stones seem to
stand out a bit. The heigh of the wall depends
on the equipements and the roll of this
construction.
 Process of construction :

• THE GATeway using Bricklaying and lime

mortar :

Usually the start is about preparing the

mortar, they made a good furrows to ensure
that the bricks will be laid evenly. Then they
keep shoving the bricks into place firmly while
applying mortar. For filling in the leads, it’s
important to stretch a mason’s line between
the completed leads and begin laying the outer
course. Bounding to unsure the corners by any
type of bound suh as flemish bound ; it uses
stretchers and headers with the headers in
alternate courses over the stretchers. Finally
before the decoration carved, bricks edging is
the completion to concrete walkways.
The characteristic, strength & weakness 
The characteristic, strength & weakness 
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