About us
Our vision
ma+su [Moroccan Architecture for Society & Urbanity] is a research and design office founded by two architect-researchers who move comfortably between fieldwork, theory and drawing boards. Working at the intersection of heritage, housing and community-led urban development, we explore how people actually live, negotiate and transform their spaces, rather than how they are supposed to on paper.
Based in Rabat and connected to Brussels, ma+su operates across scales, from a single house to a village, from a neighborhood to an entire valley, combining local know-how with contemporary techniques. Our work aims to weave together architecture, society and urbanity: we read territories through their stories, conflicts and desires, then translate that into spaces, tools and strategies that are both technically robust and socially grounded.
At the same time, ma+su is a place for research and transmission. We write, map and document; we design workshops, talks and teaching formats that bring students, inhabitants, institutions and professionals around the same table. Between fieldwork, critical inquiry and design practice, we see pedagogy as part of the project itself: a way to share methods, shift perspectives and build a more informed culture of space.
At the intersection of architectural and urban design, research and knowledge sharing, ma+su is a structure with a long view. We engage patiently and fully with sites and situations until something precise emerges: a project, a process, a text, a method. At the core, it’s always the same question: how can architecture help people inhabit their worlds with more depth, dignity and meaning.
Right here, right now.
The team
Maria El Glaoui, DPLG architect and heritage architect, and Mohamed El Boujjoufi, architect & urban planner, develop a practice grounded in complementary fields of expertise.
Maria El Glaoui specialises in urban development and heritage-making across both rural and urban contexts.
Mohamed El Boujjoufi brings expertise in participatory planning, public space design, and Nature-Based Solutions.
Their practice builds on combined experiences in design, pedagogical direction and academic research. It draws in particular on participatory approaches, nature-based solutions, and long-term inquiries into places of worship as social and community facilities in Europe, as well as housing-relatied issues in Africa.
Across all their work, they maintain close attention to uses, contexts, and the social and spatial trajectories of the territories they engage with.
Our approach
Context-driven
Every place tells a story.
We begin by listening, to the land, to the people, to what already exists.
Projects emerge from what’s there, not from above.
Cross-disciplinary
Architecture doesn't work alone.
We intertwine design, urbanism, heritage, social sciences and public policy.
It’s at the intersection that new forms of meaning appear.
Weave people in
The right scale
We love ideas, but they must land.
We draw, build, test, document & adjust until a project holds, simply and clearly.
We work at the scale of use, of context, of care.
No solo act here.
We shape spaces with those who live them, through dialogue, care & co-creation.
Participation is not a phase; it's the process.
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