Use your dome

Both Muslim and non-Muslim architects are redefining the mosque for a 21st century generation.
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Flashing LED towers, aluminium cladding and ornate facades would be a controversial part of any new development, so it is no surprise that their application to new mosques has got traditionalists rattled.

Not that opposition has stopped contemporary architects, both Muslim and non-Muslim, from floating revolutionary new ideas for mosques over the last decade. Many of the new generation feel that religious buildings, which have long been representative of the cities in which they are built, should represent progress as well as tradition.

“What we are doing today is copying the past. The past is a beautiful memory but we can’t just copy it for today,” explains Emirati architect Omran Al Owais.

“Otherwise what is going to happen in 40 years time when my grandson tells people that his grandfather was an architect? People will say, what did he do? And my grandson will have to say that I only copied the past.”

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Al Owais believes that while new mosques such as those in Casablanca and Abu Dhabi are undoubtedly beautiful, architects should not be afraid to experiment with new concepts. One of his ideas is to replace the traditional call to prayer with an LED-lit minaret, so that people will know when to go to pray whatever they are doing.

Equally, his latest mosque design does not have a dome, since air-conditioning and modern speakers can fulfil both the climatic and atmospheric function it has always served. Similarly, in terms of construction, the function of a dome was to have a raised roof without pillars – but with today’s materials architects do not need pillars to keep the roof up.

“Today I am trying to bring up new things to help me as a Muslim. When I am driving my car, talking on the phone, I can’t hear the call to prayer outside, but I can see it. So we can use new technology like LED lights to send the message to me while I am driving my car,” he says.

It is a sentiment that Iranian architect Fari Hattam, director at Aedas, agrees with. Hattam says Islamic architecture today tends to fall into three categories: stick-on architecture, where superficial patterns and calligraphy are arbitrarily incorporated into a design, international architecture, where designers forget they are designing for the Middle East, and finally hybrid architecture, where culture and history are translated into a contemporary form.