THE TRADITIONAL FONDOUKS OF THE MARRAKESH MEDINA: DIAGNOSIS OF STRUCTURAL PATHOLOGIES IN VIEW OF A RESTORATION OPERATION Case of the Fondouk El Kebbaj

The Medina of Marrakech (Morocco), the historic heart of the ochre city, has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985 and its Jamaa El Fna Square as an intangible heritage of humanity since 2008. Its heritage value and its role as the socio-economic engine of the entire region have prompted the public authorities to launch several projects over the past two decades for its rehabilitation, development and restoration. The fondouks, or caravanserais, are deeply integrated in this process. They are buildings that were once used to house caravaneers who came from outside to conduct their business transactions in the city. Today, they have mainly become workplaces for craftsmen and this change of use does not generally correspond to the initial design of their structural system. This is essentially based on load-bearing walls and the stability of the whole with respect to vertical and horizontal actions is the result of the overall work of all its elements; load-bearing and connecting walls as well as the wooden floors. The individual failure of one of these elements automatically affects the others, with the appearance of important structural disorders that threaten the building as a whole and lead to the collapse of some of its parts.
The work we present in this article concerns the restoration of the beautiful Foundouk El Kebbaj, built about two centuries ago in the Bensalah district, located in the heart of the medina. The approach adopted is multidisciplinary and relies upstream on an important work of data and information collection, identification of disorders and their causes, choice of measures to be taken and control of their effectiveness… Particular attention has also been paid to the identification of the different stages and processes of construction, both in terms of architecture and materials used. This is important to understand and determine the possible causes of aging and degradation and also to ensure the coherence of the restoration operations with the initial design of the building.