OFFICE FOR VISUAL INTERACTION, INC. (OVI)

The monumental Grand Theatre de Rabat acts as a new cultural nexus for the political capital of Morocco. Punctuated cove lighting snakes around the curvilinear façade of this monolithic stone structure, the shape of which appears to emerge from the desert landscape along the Bou Regreg River. A series of illuminated skylights and large-scale glass entrances allow the building to “glow from within,” creating visual transparency into the 6-story-high grand foyer. Inside the theatre, in-grade floodlights dramatically enhance the auditorium’s faceted golden walls, while outside, visitors wander through a stepped amphitheater subtly contoured by continuous linear lighting at the stairways and balustrades.