This proposal for a mosque in Dubai reinterprets the amplified and rich spatial qualities found in historical Islamic structures into a contemporary spatial and material condition.

Traditionally, mosque spaces were adorned with high-resolution patterns that through their extreme repetition enables a reading of exquisite surface texture, blurring the original simple pattern. This practice is translated through the use of a simple, efficient and highly repeatable element in the form of a long steel plate with various perforations. Populated along the whole façade, this element creates an almost invisible building that shimmers in the day due to its white finish, and lights up at night due to its perforations.

The main structural system spanning the mosque spaces is a simple, efficient and elegant steel frame structure that supports the roof as well as the façade elements. The steel plates in the façade protect the glazing while still admitting light through strategic rotations in their organization. These elements also act as interior screens that visually separate the female prayer area on the first floor from the male prayer space. The services as well as Imam and Muezzin’s housing are also protected by the façade skin, but are conceived as a solid to be built using a typical concrete construction.

Date: 2018
Location: Dubai, UAE
Type: Religious Space
Size: 300 sqm
Scope: Architecture