MAKING THE IMMATERIAL VISIBLE THROUGH THE FIVE ELEMENTS OF NATURE

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Our design approach is to compose a subtle coalescence between the five natural elements of nature [Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Landscape] and examine the following Architectural principles of traditional mosque design and such as the idea of Grandeur vs. Humility, Glorification vs. Submission, Enclosure vs. Transparency, Rigid vs. Formless, Seen vs. Be Seen.

 

The fundamental elements to form a mosque can be derived from the first mosque; which is the house of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.) in Medina. The style of the mosque is known as the Hypostyle type, meaning a building having a roof supported by pillars.

 

Our proposed ELEMENTAL MOSQUE design unfolds and reinterprets the space and materiality of a traditional mosque into an Architecture of Humility where we adopted the concept of the hypostyle mosque (First mosque) that features a large rectangular-shaped prayer hall, with forest of columns to support the roof structure and large inner Sahn (courtyard) for gathering purposes.