Marrakesh as a multisensory memory system

Atmosphere, Perception and the Architecture of Felt Space

Abstract

There is a particular quality to arriving in Marrakech. Before the eye has time to process the geometry of the medina, the city communicates through other channels. The air carries the smell of cumin and charcoal. The call to prayer from the Koutoubia mosque overlaps with the hammering of coppersmiths in the Souk Haddadine. The light entering through the narrow openings between covered souk stalls is intense, and the shadow immediately adjacent is equally deep. The medina is difficult to navigate geometrically because of its dense and irregular street system, yet it remains strongly memorable for residents and visitors alike. This paper argues that this memorability comes less from spatial clarity and more from repeated sensory signals that help people orient themselves through material familiarity and accumulated experience.

This paper treats the historic medina of Marrakech as a sensory environment experienced from within rather than a formal urban plan read from above. Its central argument is that the medina functions as a multisensory memory system: a spatial field whose coherence depends not on geometric legibility, but on the layering of consistent atmospheric signals that accumulate in the body of the perceiver over time. The evidence is drawn from the specific material, olfactory, acoustic, and thermal conditions of the medina as documented in urban research, ethnographic studies, and heritage assessment.