Palais Nouhass

The Palais Nouhass settles the space question before any other. It is a recent palace of the north palm grove, built in the register of the great earthen houses but thought large: a long pool stretches at the middle of a palm-planted garden, facing a symmetrical facade, with the Atlas outline in the background on clear days. Inside, volumes follow, starting with a monumental Berber sitting room, topped with a carved plaster ceiling, opened by wide windows onto the green. Far from the medina riad’s tightness: here everything breathes, and it is the first argument of the house.

The kit tracks that scale logic. A spa with hammam and a gym, a table mixing Moroccan and international cooking served in the garden, generous rooms and suites, some with a pool or an Atlas view. The layout, with eighteen units spread across one estate, suits families and groups wanting space, water and calm, without squeezing into a city house. Service and setting come top of the comments, on a still modest review count, the house being recent.

The flip side is the known one of the Palmeraie: the remove. You are about seven kilometres from the centre, in a residential and agricultural quarter where a car is essential, and where you do not step out on foot in the evening. That is the price of the green and the space, paid in trips to the medina rather than in pounds. The house, recent, bets on this spacious and bright architecture rather than the patina of the old palaces. Those after the ancient character of a period house will not find it.

The Palais Nouhass speaks to anyone after space, a large pool and the calm of the Palmeraie, with family or friends, rather than a base to walk the city. You need to cope with the distance and with a new house, no ancient patina. In return, you find volumes and a garden the city does not offer. On the space-in-the-green slot, it is a serious option of the north palm grove.