His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco recently inaugurated the new train station of Casa-port, which is a crowning achievement for the national transportation network's modern heritage. The first of its kind in Morocco in terms of design and facilities, the station falls within the series of major construction sites launched by Morocco's sovereign across the nation's entire territory. It represents the King's continued desire to accompany the process of restructuring, urban modernization, and the strengthening of inter-city transportation.

Located in the heart of a city undergoing plenty of change, the new station (costing approximately 45 million USD), fits in perfectly with the the plans for the Casablanca urban area's recomposition, and the configuration of the urban space surrounding the station. It can be found in the center of several of the metro area's major roadways and neighboring the city's port, the new Marina, and the Hassan II Mosque.

The railway constructs built in Marrakech, Fes, and Tangier were designed to be intelligent, offering multiple services, and designed as places for living. Now the Casa-Port station wants to take things a step further as part of this concept, raising the station to a community space for customers and the public at large.Carried out by the National Office of Railways (ONCF), the new rail structure, which began construction in May 2008 under King Mohammed VI, is a truly multi-service center offering on-site commercial and leisure spaces to users. It also participates in the development of a hub for exchange and intermodal transport, as well as enhancing commercial offerings while accommodating the large amount of daily work-home commuting done on foot.

The Casa-Port Station, which stretches over a surface area of about 33,500 square meters, will welcome more than 20 million passengers a year, amounting to nearly 5,000 travelers every hour during peak times. It groups three spaces with complementary functions, including a building for travelers, an underground parking lot, and a building housing the ONCF services, which is located parallel to the nearby embankment. It is a megastructure that combines modern and traditional architecture with facilities and installations that meet international standards of security and quality of service.

As part of the new station's opening, redevelopment has moved on to existing railway infrastructure in order to optimize them for continued use, going hand-in-hand with traffic development. This work resulted in an additional cost of approximately 11 million USD.

What features in the interior of a structure, such as a train station, are conducive to human interaction and appropriation of the space?

Original article, originally published in French, here.

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