The Speculative Garden is an edible, experimental and communal garden hosted on the rooftop of the Dar Bellarj Foundation. Complemented by Zra3na, our Seed Library, as well as various labs, the garden materialises collective explorations around the pasts, presents, and futures of green spaces in Marrakech –– an urban landscape once known as the archetype of a Garden City.The Speculative Garden was initiated in 2019 by the action-research “Entangled Ecologies” led by QANAT - قناة (in the persons of Louisa Aarrass, Noureddine Ezarraf, Sara Frikech and Francesca Masoero) in entanglement with the Ateliers Collectifs - الورشات الجماعية of the Dar Bellarj Foundation.
As a space that thinks with, and embodies a contextual sovereign practice, the Garden was first established as a vegetable garden, though it has slowly transformed over the years. Through its different iterations it has not only become a collective space, but also a playground in becoming, testing the possibilities and conditions to rethink and enroot forms of grass-root food and material sovereignty within the urban space.
The project was started in 2019 by QANAT collective as part of the Ateliers Collectifs – الورشات الجماعية of Dar Bellarj through a series of workshops with the Mamans Douées centered on sensory mapping, participatory design, collective reflection and experimentation around urban ecologies. This led to the creation of a unique initiative in the city that has revitalized the foundation’s rooftop and enabled participants and the public to learn and reconnect with agricultural practices and their connection to the land, while developing a deep sensitivity to crucial global issues such as climate change, food sovereignty, and the green future of our cities.
The Speculative Garden is an edible, experimental and communal garden hosted on the rooftop of the Dar Bellarj Foundation. Complemented by Zra3na, our Seed Library, as well as various labs, the garden materialises collective explorations around the pasts, presents, and futures of green spaces in Marrakech –– an urbanscape once known as the archetype of a Garden City.
At the heart of the medina, the Garden has been accompanied by a growing Seed Library, an open pedagogical space and the repository of the polyphonic matters collected and reworked through our work with the Mamans Douées of Dar Bellarj. Through books, zines, visual and sound installations, as well as a growing selection of seeds, the library offers an evolving rendering of both subjective and collective memories, desires, and imaginaries in relation to what a garden was, is, and could be/come.
THE DOORS OF THE GARDEN ARE OPEN FOR PUBLIC WORKSHOPS & MARKETS EVERY 3RD SATURDAY OF THE MONTH.
Please keep an eye on our social media for any change in schedule. If you are curious to know more, would like to schedule a visit, or join the garden as a volunteer, please feel free to reach out to [email protected]
The Dar Bellarj garden and the seed library have originally been thought of, nourished, and built from 2019 until 2023 by the joint effort of QANAT (in particular Louisa Aarrass, Noureddine Ezarraf, Sara Frikech, Abdellah M. Hassak, Francesca Masoero, Rim Mejdi), Dar Bellarj (Maha el Madi, Aziz and Hassan Bouyabrine), the Mamans Douées (in particular Amina Bouyabrine, Rachida El Idrissi Lahbali, Rachida Elguendouf, Zahra El Khiraoui, Fatima Ennaoui, Latifa Ghazdaoui, Khadija Karbah, Rkia Wamani), Otmane Ouallal, Souhail Tazi/Domaine Sauvage, Le Toit en Vert (Sabrina Hakimm and Rachid Latouri), Ilyass Moussanif, Aba Sadki, and Soufiane Lazrak.
In 2024 a new iteration of the Dar Bellarj garden was initiated by Francesca Masoero and Maha el Madi and brought to life through the knowledge and expertise of Abderrazak Bassir and Omar Saadani Hassani, as well as Aziz Bouyabrine, and with the complicity of Harvest Festival.
Since 2025 Ayoub Amahrouss, Alia Belgsir, Abderrazak Bassir and Francesca Masoero are leading the pedagogical and agroecological programme of the garden.
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Discover the evolution of the Speculative Garden, from its beginnings to its continuous growth as a space for community, ecology, and experimentation.
A series of collaborative workshops exploring the relationships between nature, people, culture, and urban environments through creative practices.
Experimental laboratories where participants explore gardening, ecology, sustainability, and creative research through hands-on activities.