10/12/2019
It was an architectural design competition to design an Iconic Mosque at Dubai Creek Harbor, organized by Emaar & Dubai Holding in April 2018. It was not an anonymous competition. Also, the result is not published yet. We are sharing our proposal for the project.
Ideas behind the project:
"This is a unique opportunity to design an iconic mosque.
The site is blessed with natural forces, also in the master planning of the creek harbour, there are lots of park and open spaces. In this context, the placing of the building is a challenging thing.
For site planning, we have taken the given site as a platform to contain the building. We placed the mosque building along with creel tower and linear park axis. Anyone on this axis can see this structure. The site sits between the linear park and sanctuary park. The continuation of the pedestrian connecting flow is important. So, we created a path at the north and south side at two-level. The upper level will act as a connecting bridge, which is raised by a very mild slope. And the lower level is on the north and south side of the mosque. So, the linear flow is uninterrupted.
Mosque plaza is surrounded by parks and green. We thought that while approaching the plaza there should be a threshold, a continuation. So, we placed garden at East and West entry side of the plaza. Here the trees will be equally spaced and will continue with the first flight of the side bridge ramp. We placed all the supporting facilities under the bypass bridge so that the Mosque will become the main important structure.
Islam is a religion of peace and purity. While considering the form and shape of the mosque structure we thought a pure from could be an icon. This structure can be wrapped with an Islamic pattern screen. This screen will make texture on the building and will give dramatic light inside. And the scale should be monumental. While entering inside people will feel the monumentality of the scale. So, we consider about twenty storied height spaces for the mosque. At ground level, space will be fully transparent because Islam encourages transparency. People can enter from three sides (except Qibla wall side) by automated sliding doors. Female worshipers will have two separate entry lobby to the mezzanine level. They will also enjoy the big volume of space. At the Qibla wall side of the mezzanine level, there will be a screen wall of the same Islamic pattern. This will create privacy for the female worshippers.
We placed the rectangular mosque within a circular periphery. Three sides of this rectangle are surrounded by trees. And the Qibla wall side there is a reflection pool. The pool will reflect the bottom side of the tree canopy. This way in inside people will feel that they are surrounded by nature. After entering the transitional garden at edge people will come to the plaza space, where they can see the full height of the building. Moving forward while they will be nearby mosque building people will again enter the garden where they can sense the tree canopy above. There the temperature will change. People will feel a cool breeze before entering, because of the shaded platform. The trees will be placed aligned with the mosque wall so that the prayer line can be parallel with the Qibla wall while extended space needed for prayer. There is two separate lobby for going to the roof level. They are equipped with shuttle lift so that people can move fast to the roof level.
For creating simplicity, we considered the material will be white marble stone. This will make the building more minimal. Against the white marble the tree and the reflection pool also the reflection of the sky will create a painting.
If this structure is built in this way, this will be a memorable space for the worshipers and the tourist also. A unique and bold approach for a Mosque."
