Fès Université Méditerranée, Fes, Morocco

Following the wish of His Majesty Mohammed VI to establish a globally competitive Center for research and education in the city of Fez, the campus of the Euro-Mediterranean University is created from scratch. That offers the opportunity to implement the concepts of sustainable development throughout the master plan. The Fez site, although challenging due to its climate, offers many advantages for designing an energy efficient and environmentally friendly building. Being also a globally reflected campus, Transsolar was able to introduce following ideas:

The high performance building envelopes are equipped with exterior insulation and architectural shading systems to control solar gains. Extensive daylight and thermal studies have been performed for optimizing the shading systems. Decentralized ventilation with air intakes in shady patios and adiabatic cooling is utilized for precooling the supply air. A bioclimatic building design and night time air flushing activating its thermal mass reduces the overall demand for mechanical air conditioning. Renewable energy is produced onsite by local solar and photovoltaic panels, an electric and thermic energy loop allows for pooling of resources on campus. The collection and disposal of waste is optimized, rain water is harvested and reused and a controlled infiltration manages storm. Outdoor comfort is optimised depending on activities. The measures implemented equally reduce the heat island effect.

Thus, the design of the Fez Euro-Mediterranean University campus is based on the experience of Transsolar and best practices recommended by international environmental certifications. Compared to other commercial facilities in the kingdom, the teaching and research buildings of the first construction phase will be at the forefront of environmental innovation and comfort.