Take a trip to Morocco and chances are you’ll find yourself basking in one of these interior courtyards. A way to bring a green space or even a pool area into the house, courtyards practically define Marrakech‘s traditional palaces called riads.
If you’re thinking of building one into your home, find inspiration in some of these lovely hotels and restaurants, rife with tiles, cacti, ethnic textiles and those undulating tadelakt plaster walls. If you’re wary of being too hippie-dippie, mash it up with modernist touches like an all-white color palette or geometric jade inserts, a la Yves Saint Laurent‘s legendary decorator, Bill Willis. He was just crazy about tadelakt.
Above // Riad Lotus
Left// Maison Palmeraie, photographed by Richard Powers for Interiors
El Fenn boutique hotel, photographed by David Loftus
Numero 7 Restaurant
Riad Dar K
Rick’s Cafe in Casablanca by Bill Willis, photographed by Nicolas Mathéus
Riad L’Asiza, photographed by the New York Times
Riad Kaiss
Riad Roumana
Riad Lotus via AphroChic
Riad Perle Vue Piscine
Riad Snan 13
Royal Mansour Spa via Vogue Daily
Royal Mansour Spa via Vogue Daily
For more inspiring courtyards, visit AphroChic on Flickr
