Masjid Al Mustafa

Madani Avenue, Dhaka, Bangladesh

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Masjid Al Mustafa

Madani Avenue, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Firm

UPSL

Type

Cultural › Religious

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2024

SIZE

100,000 sqft - 300,000 sqft

BUDGET

$100M +

The mosque is located at United City, Satarkul which is situated at Madani Avenue adjacent to Gulshan and Basundhara residential area of Dhaka City, Bangladesh. Design idea was to abstract interpret by basic Symbolism of Islamic Architecture. Geometry has been the principal tool for this abstraction in terms of transforming both the form and spatial quality. Symbolism through geometric interpretation is an imperative feature of Islamic architecture. Islam prescribes a symbolic or suggestive approach rather than a literal representation. This makes geometry one of the most vital tools in the abstraction of symbolism in mosque design. In this project, traditional symbolic elements that is taken are the crescent shaped waterbody, the dome, minarets and arch. The mosque draws inspiration from the iconic Islamic structures such as form and colours are inspired from Kaaba Sharif and Al Masjid Al Nawabi, the dome from Masjid Al-Aksa.

“Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness.” - Frank Gehry. In early times mosques built in the Islamic tradition in the middle eastern climate were presented as an open space configuration within the perimeter of the fort and were built without obvious symbolism. Along with the time and technology that developed during the Islamic golden age until today, mosques are becoming common to be designed with strong symbol, a more open perimeter with certain geometry, material and splendor features. I tried to design a timeless mosque by having a strong approach to the site context such as climate, culture, people's habit, and passive design strategies.

In Masjid Al Mustafa, I tried to create an architecture that is not bound by time but has a strong environmental pretext by building a dialogue with the sun, the climate, and high intensity of public interaction in this location. The main idea is to design an open and transparent space within a basic form where people can find peace and relate themselves to their surroundings. As mosques are comparatively quieter on other days except Friday noon, the building is designed in two forms, one is for five wakt prayer every day and other is to accommodate mass gatherings like Jumah and other occasional prayers. Detaching the mass gathering area from the extracted smaller form helps to keep the building more reliant on natural light & ventilation instead of being too reliant on mechanical means, cutting unnecessary costs. Large apertures ensure an abundance of light and air. The ambiance of the entire prayer space is enhanced by light from three sides that keeps the area well-illuminated during most of the day. The latter is made possible by the employment of a jali or screen structure, which wraps the building, while ensuring protection from solar heat gain. Another feature of this mosque is the visual connection between the musolli from every floor and the Imam. In this mosque 10664 number of musolli can pray at a time, but as the musolli’s are distributed by vertical floors, they are also visually connected with the big central atrium. To accommodate this large number of musolli all three mode of vertical circulation which (lift, stair & escalator) are present in this building.

The function of the mosque serves not only for religious purposes but also as a center for community interaction that is presented through library in the basement, large semi outdoor gathering space that invites activities from the surrounding community as well as steps, waterbody and landscape on the perimeter of the building as an element to sitting and public gathering space. The 'Old and New' style of architecture will be expressed independently whilst being experienced collectively as an integral whole. A series of skylights mediate the interfaces between the two states and a visitor moving through the building will constantly experience the presence of both – akin to a continuous dialogue between tradition and modernity.

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Masjid Al Mustafa

Madani Avenue, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Masjid Al Mustafa

Madani Avenue, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Product Spec Sheet

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