Modern Minarets: 6 Contemporary Mosques Celebrating Cultural Diversity
The judging process for Architizer’s 12th Annual A+Awards is now away. Subscribe to our Awards Newsletter to receive updates about Public Voting, and stay tuned for winners announcements later this spring.
“Islam is like a crystal-clear river that takes the color of the riverbed it flows over.”
Through those words, Dr. Umar Faruq Abd’Allah described the religion of Islam and the way it reflects the different cultures and regions it spreads in and flows through. In architectural terms, this analogy extends to mosques and their designs. Over time, mosque designs have been influenced by the diverse cultures, climates, building materials and traditions of the various regions in which mosques were built.
This amalgamation has led to a multitude of designs and typologies for mosques worldwide, evolving alongside cultures, populations and advancements in building technologies. These designs preserve core Muslim values while simultaneously celebrating the diversity of the different cultures and communities. Through this collection, six mosques from around the world are showcased to show how the design of Muslim sacred buildings has evolved and what mosques look like in this time and age.
Al Musalla – The Mosque – Al Hosn Area
By CEBRA and DCT Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Jury Winner, 2020, A+ Awards, Architecture +Ceilings
Photo by Department of Culture and Tourism, DCT Abi Dhabi
Inspired by the geology of the area, this mosque has the design of what could be described as manmade nature, appearing as a group of rocks emerging out of water. To enter the mosque, worshippers traverse a network of pathways that wind around the water, symbolically cleansing them before prayer while also shielding them from the noise and commotion of the nearby streets.
The mosque is located within a historically significant site with a number of landmarks, managing to calmly integrate into the park while also offering a remarkable experience to its users. Inside, the distinctive geometrical shapes of the exterior are reflected on different elements of the design including the ceiling, complemented by lighting design that aimed to represent a desert sky adorned with stars, in a manner that does not only connect the mosque with earth and water, but also with the sky and what’s beyond.
BRICK VEIL
By LUCA POIAN FORMS, Preston, United Kingdom
Produced through an artful stitching between the Islamic traditions and the history of the area, between the universal values and the local culture, this mosque design was conceptualized as a landmark within the existing site, through its scale, meticulous façade design, building materials and relationship with the surrounding.
Inspired by the textile manufacturing history of the region, the pleated brick façade gives the building a strong sculptural appearance, while also referencing the traditional design of Mashrabiyas, which is a traditional element in Islamic architecture used to enhance privacy. Erected at the south western end of the hill, the mosque is reached through a processional ramp that slowly disconnects the arriving worshippers from the city and the gradually welcomes them into the sacred space of the mosque.
Yesilvadi Mosque
By Adnan Kazmaoğlu Mimarlık Araştırma Merkezi, İstanbul, Turkey
Harmoniously nested into the site, the Yesilvadi Mosque is conceptualized as a social space that gathers people and brings them together, through its variety of functions that include the prayer hall, a meeting hall, a library, a courtyard and a square, inspired by the social role mosques and their courtyards have traditionally played in the design of Islamic cities.
The bold geometry of the mosque, where the volume of the dome is also the volume of the building, is inspired by Ottoman mosques which typically have circular forms, while also symbolically using the shape of the circle to represent infinity and unity. The seamless use of white for the building’s exterior was achieved through the use of White Marmara marble, which aimed to represent purity and good virtue, standing in contrast with the green landscaping and the complexity of the surrounding context.
Al-Islah Mosque
By Formwerkz Architects, Punggol, Singapore
Photo by Albert Lim Koon Seng
Situated in a densely populated residential area, this mosque demonstrates a harmonious connection with its surroundings, achieved through a meticulously crafted façade adorned with a range of openings and perforations These features serve to regulate indoor climate and invite worshippers inside, while also reflecting the difference in functions in each building.
Comprising three distinct volumes, the mosque includes facilities such as a seminar building and an administrative center, in addition to the main prayer hall that flows dynamically with its open design and vast area. These architectural elements are thoughtfully designed to mirror the permeability of Islamic principles and aspirations within the context of Singapore today.
Mohammad Rasul- Allah Mosque
By Paya Payrang Architectural Group, Shiraz, Iran
Photo by Ahmad Mirzaee
Photo by Samaneh Motaghipishe
The new volume of this mosque grew in the space between an array of old trees and the existing historic prayer hall at the center of the site, delicately engaging in a conversation between the old and the new, the natural and the built, the communal and the religious, as well as solidity and openness.
A long spine connects the two entrances at the opposite sides, encompassing the traditional “Riwagh” element that is common in the design of mosques in Iran, adorned with two minarets that vertically extend parallel to the huge old trees, and generously welcoming prayers in from the busy main road. Built out of stone, the design of the mosque is simple yet sculptural, standing out within its context and making a statement with its dynamic geometry and copper dome.
Al Rawda Mosque
By Uraiqat Architects, Amman, Jordan
The dynamic design of Al Rawda Mosque in Amman aimed to move beyond the limitations of the traditional mosque designs of the region and envision what a contemporary mosque could look like. Through a process of extensive research, the designing team engaged in an intellectual pursuit that studied and abstracted the different elements of a mosque, before reinterpreting them and combining them in this design.
The ornamented screens on the inside and the outside of the building created a rich interplay of shade and shadow and blurred the boundary between the inside and the outside, while also having environmental benefits that enhanced the indoor climate and user experience.
The judging process for Architizer’s 12th Annual A+Awards is now away. Subscribe to our Awards Newsletter to receive updates about Public Voting, and stay tuned for winners announcements later this spring.
“The Last Resort, a black hole observatory located in Greenwich Park, is a testament to humanity’s quest for survival and a gateway between alternate dimensions. As the stars emerge each night, the observatory awakens, physicists gathering within hallowed halls and pooling centuries of knowledge into one goal: seeking an inter-dimensional refuge in the race against our planet’s dying climate.
“The Iceberg is among the first completed projects in the redevelopment of Aarhus’ former container port for 7,000 residents and 12,000 workplaces, spanning 800,000 meters square — one of Europe’s largest harborfront developments. The client, PensionDanmark, assigned CEBRA to maximize views and sunlight for every apartment. Challenging the master plan of closed blocks, The Iceberg consists of four L-shaped wings. The street spaces between the parallel wings open towards the water.
This imaginative drawing “Fable or Failure” by Alexander Jeong and Brandon Hing won the 2023 Architizer Vision Award for a Student Drawing in the Computer Aided category. Jeong and Hing’s rendering reimagines a multitude of fantastical scenarios through space travel. As the duo notes, “Fable or Failure is a project that seeks to reimagine how space travel can be conceptualized in the distant future of societal development.” Taking the shape of an exploded axonometric drawing, the winning entry uses black, white and grey linework and shading, as well as a single color to denote outer space.
“Where do we go when we read? The pub designed for Amsterdam’s city centre aims to answer this, creating a bar residing in the metaphysical, that through its drawings invite you in, wherever you may be visiting the pub from. The pencil drawings emerge from data collected within the site at dusk when the pub opens. Small devices constructed from black mirrors and poetic fragments were taken to the site at this time and created textual openings to it, using the fragments as locators.
“Underlining the idea that CAD drawings can be done in many different styles, the drawing VENUE ID PINKLAO-SALAYA “Shirakawa-go” by LWD.Co was the Vision Awards Studio Winner this year for Computer Aided Drawing. As the team outlines, it was made as an “inspired design that tells the story of a beautiful farming village nestled in the valley alongside the Shokawa River, where one might find an old house reminiscent of a childhood fairy tale.” Reading like a comic, the juxtaposition of angles, moments and frames moves the eye through the drawing and text.
“There is a universe of possibility that spans the distance between what we look at and what we see. And in that space is our experience of the world. This is what I try to paint — the experience of seeing my world — from perspectives both external and from within. And as such, dreams, memories, and pure imagination are every bit as valid as is anything that can be physically observed.”
