The man behind the mosque

HATAM'S DUBAI MOSQUE PROJECT

Born in Iran and raised in Australia, Fari Hatam is an embodiment of that which is both traditional and contemporary. His education was a blend of Western theory but his focus was on how the main components of Islamic architecture could be transformed into a contemporary context. It was only after he sought in vain to find successful examples of the latter did Hatam find his calling.

“I started looking around the Middle East and I realised that no one is doing anything that is both contemporary and Islamic—at least not at this level,” explains Hatam. “Islamabad [Pakistan] has had an attempt at it; Hagia Sophia and some of the other examples in Istanbul are also very intriguing. But that was it. It was then that I became fascinated with how to properly design a mosque.”

Drawing inspiration from the myriad bridges, mosques and plazas of his birthplace, Esfahan, Iran, Hatam’s Dubai Mosque captures the essence of the dualist language of what can be called a Contemporary Islamic style. More than an architectural showcase, even today, Esfahan can provide important tutelage to newer cities—namely Dubai and Abu Dhabi—trying to preserve their indigenous history and culture amidst rapid modernisation and an amalgam of architectural styles.

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FEATURED COMMENT Hi, i love this design of mosque. I am involved in designing a new mosque which will be an extention of the existing fac   2 Comments Read more comments »

The unfortunate reality, explains Hatam, is that cities like these tend to incorporate three categories of ‘Islamic’ architecture: ‘stick-on architecture’, where superficial patterns and calligraphy are arbitrarily incorporated into a design; international architecture, where the designer forgets he/she is designing for a Middle Eastern context; and hybrid architecture, where culture and history are truly and successfully translated into a contemporary form. The latter is the most challenging category, but it also provides the most valuable examples.  

“A mosque being oriented towards the Holy Ka’ba in Makkah, for example, can change the whole orientation of the grid of the city,” says Hatam. “The mosque has such a major influence in city planning. If you look closely at some examples in the oldest parts of Dubai, you might see something similar.”

More than an attempt to do something unique or iconic, Dubai Mosque was a response to what Hatam saw as a city that was misguided and misdirected. “When I first came to Dubai, everyone was doing the ‘World’s Biggest This’ and the ‘World’s Tallest That’,” says Hatam. “That was the standard. Only a few people were really looking at truly Islamic architecture and no one was concentrating on the mosque.”

Designing a mosque 
Broken down into components, the form of a mosque is quite simple. Externally, it consists of three elements: a dome, a cube and a minaret. Considering these rather straightforward precepts, Hatam still used Dubai Mosque as an opportunity to push the limits of how these elements can be connected in one form.  

In Islamic architecture, the dome represents heaven. “Metaphorically speaking, everyone wants to go to heaven,” says Hatam. “So we applied vertical force to the dome, which extended it downward and made it flush with the ground, thus making it accessible to everyone.”