French-Moroccan architects and twin sisters Salwa and Selma Mikoü have developed a practice that brings together architecture, engineering, craftsmanship, and cultural memory. Founders of the Paris-based Mikoü Architecture, the sisters draw on their different approaches to design as well as their experience growing up between Morocco and France. In a recent interview with Louisiana Channel, they discuss the influence of Moroccan architecture on their work, their collaborative process, and their interest in bringing contemporary construction technologies into dialogue with craft traditions.
For Mikoü, this understanding of architecture begins with the spaces they experienced growing up in Morocco. The sisters lived in a traditional riad organized around an interior garden, with terraces overlooking neighboring homes and a direct relationship between domestic and collective life. Salwa recalls Morocco as "a very sensual country with plenty of colors, smells," while describing Marrakech as an "immersive city" where souks, markets, and shared spaces create a natural setting for people to gather. These experiences also introduced them to architecture through contrasts. "Living with contrasts is something very meaningful," she explains, referring to the transition between the bright, narrow spaces of the exterior and the shaded, more intimate spaces inside.
The sequence of moving through these spaces remains significant to their approach. Changes in scale, light, and enclosure create different forms of experience, from the collective character of the city to the intimacy of the home. Selma recalls how the terraces of their childhood riad became places to observe neighboring families and communicate across the neighborhood. "There is this tradition of neighborhoods," she says, connecting these early experiences to their continuing interest in how architecture can shape relationships between people.
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Their professional experiences developed these differences further. After studying architecture at the same school, Salwa worked at Ateliers Jean Nouvel, while Selma joined Renzo Piano Building Workshop. The sisters describe these environments as reflecting their respective interests: Salwa was drawn to concepts, abstraction, and intellectual questions, while Selma found an affinity with the pragmatic and material aspects of making architecture. The contrast between these positions has become part of how they approach both design and construction.
This relationship between ideas and making is particularly evident in their interest in engineering. "We are interested in engineering because for us all this inner structure is something that is like the fundamentals of architecture of a building," they explain. Their interest in how buildings are assembled also connects to ecological transition and prefabrication. "We really like this idea of industrialization of architecture because for us it's like a kind of progress gesture," they say, arguing that industrialized processes can make architecture "smart but still not standard at all."
For Mikoü, this technological approach does not mean moving away from craft. Their Moroccan background introduced them to a strong tradition of craftsmanship and ornament, which they continue to reinterpret through contemporary construction. "We really like to merge together technology and craftsmanship," they explain, describing their practice as a "Manufacture of Architecture." Within this approach, construction becomes a way of bringing together different forms of knowledge while making visible what might otherwise remain hidden.
The same ideas extend into their projects. In Bordeaux, Art de Rives combines housing with artist residences and student accommodation, creating what the architects describe as an urban "melting pot." Its porous configuration is intended to open the city toward the Garonne River and create spaces for encounters between different groups. Alongside this project, their built work includes Aquazena, a swimming pool and wellness center in Greater Paris; Balsanéo, an aquatic center and spa in Châteauroux; and the Simone Veil School Campus in Boulogne-Billancourt.
Produced by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Louisiana Channel brings together video conversations with artists, architects, designers, writers, and musicians, examining their practices, ideas, and perspectives on contemporary culture. The series has recently featured conversations with architects and designers such as Pedro Reyes, Liam Young, Tsuyoshi Tane, Xu Tiantian, and Zhu Pei, addressing subjects including speculative futures, collective memory, material culture, and the changing relationship between architecture and society.
