This 3D representation of a slightly modernised Moroccan living room shows the specificities of this room, which is not found anywhere else in North Africa.
You have to go further east, to the Middle East, to find this taste of these large rooms with walls lined with comfortable sofas and whose empty centre reveals rich carpets on which small tables for tea or large tables for meals are laid out.
The walls are always richly decorated: most often with zelliges, as in the Bahia Palace, sometimes also with hangings whose traditional motifs, often red, gold and green, are those found in the caïdal tents.
The windows are usually small, hidden by thick coloured curtains that block out the light. In Morocco, light is synonymous with warmth, and rooms must be light and dark to be comfortable.
In this living room, the fabrics covering the wall are decorated with finely carved wooden arches. They are similar to window arches or moucharabiehs. In this room they are only decorative, housing indirect lighting.
The left side is open. The arches become thicker, a low wall rises to cushion height. It is usually covered with a marble slab, a perfume burner, biscuits and a fruit bowl are placed on it. These arches are often placed on a long side, and separate the salon from another identical salon next door. The women’s room and the men’s room may be separated by curtains.
The ceiling is hung with the same warm-coloured fabric, like a tent roof. In the middle is the light fixture.
Square tables are placed at each corner of the couches. The top lifts off and they are used for storage. It is customary in houses to store blankets in them, to be given to guests who stay overnight. The living room is transformed into a real tent, a common room!
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In this depiction of a rich modern living room, changes have been made to the classic living room. The sofas have few cushions, but above all the central table is rectangular, too low for pleasant eating.
The two chairs at the end of each sofa are also a modern addition, and the round, wide footstool would be replaced in a normal Moroccan living room by many small footstools for guests to sit around the tables.
But if there is one thing that this representation is true to, it is the accumulation of rugs on the floor. At least two can be seen, which would have been laid on zelliges rather than parquet. Parquet flooring in Morocco is an invention of colonisation. Wood is too precious to be used on floors, not very suitable for living conditions.
This 3D representation, however unreal it may be, shows perfectly how rich Moroccans decorate their interiors today.
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