Towards a second life of the Abattoirs of Casablanca

On 26 March, the Cities of Casablanca and Amsterdam, together with Casamemoire, presented ‘L'Batwar - Story of a Transformation’ in the former abattoirs in Morocco’s largest city. The book portraits the history of the architecturally fascinating municipal slaughterhouses, situated between the city centre and the neighbourhood Hay Mohammadi.

Many factory workers and their families were living in this neighbourhood with a strong social cohesion, where political resistance lead to several large protests in the past. After the factory closed its doors in the beginning of the century, the strategic position in the city and its exceptional architectural beauty gave rise to thoughts of converting the complex into a driver for development of the area. Since 2009, a group of around 15 socio-cultural organisations make use of the spaces and developed a programme as 'Fabrique Culturelle’, involving also many inhabitants and their children.