Design Criteria for Mosques and Islamic Centers: Art, Architecture and Worship

95 Pages·2009·8.04 MB·English

by  Akel Kahera

In memory of Ayesha Muhammad
(d. 2006 CE/1426 AH)
and
Hajjah Mufeedah Abdul Karim
(d. 2006 CE/1426 AH)
inna lilahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un
To the extended (Anz) family
and
To Hajjah Hakimah Abdulmalik
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Preface
In urban America [and Europe] religious institutions are woven deeply into the physical and social fabric of the city. In nearly
every neighborhood we fi nd temples, churches, synagogues and mosques. These places of worship are perhaps the oldest and
most ubiquitous forms of the urban community – the religious congregation.
Omar Roberts,
Streets of Glory (2003)
The core of this book deals with several different levels of archi- This type of evaluation helps us to also understand to what
tectural analysis related to the formation of the urban mosque in extent the physical space of the urban mosque exercises control
Europe and America over the last three or more decades. In this over land use and public space; at the least the evaluation serves
connection, two primary sets of documents are critiqued and dis- as a planning apparatus within the realm of design. The same
cussed. First, in Chapter 1 our goal is to understand the changing apparatus can simultaneously help the designer to carefully exper-
multitude and modes of esthetics, in relation to religious observ- iment at multiple levels of engagement with a building plan since
ance or practice, which can become an important educational no established design standards exist for a mosque. Our approach
tool for designers and architects. The acquisition of places of is legitimized by the fact that the word masjid (mosque; pl. masa-
worship has always played a crucial role in the principle of reli- jid ) literally and quite simply means ‘ a place of prostration ’ , with
gious freedom in Europe and America. Likewise many religious no a priori style or form dictating it beyond its basic use; as such
groups, once settled in a new environment, have always estab- the spatial characteristics of the mosque, unlike the church or the
lished a place of worship; over the last few decades these places synagogue, are intrinsically defi ned by the act of prostration. This
have become symbolically laden arenas with respect to design. is especially so because the act of worship (i badah ) is not rigidly
We must keep in mind that in an unfamiliar environment noth- tied to a particular place, space or form (covered or uncovered)
ing is more meaningful than a familiar image, because it gives but rather to a prescribed time. Associated with the place of pros-
expressive meaning to one’s belief and gives identity to a group tration is theqiblah (the ontological axis) with which a worship-
that for a large part represents a Diaspora community. per or an edifi ce is oriented towards Makkah (Mecca). Mosques
By invoking al-Jurjani’s theory, we can understand expressive everywhere in the world adhere to this ontological rule; it is an
meaning in architectural language and syntax by following two exoteric expression of belief, which must be adhered to. The
methods: the fi rst conceives of language as mere words isolated qiblah is universally recognized by its m ihrab , which signifi es the
from a context while the second conceives of it as context only. point where theimam stands facing Makkah, to lead the faithful
These two approaches have their parallels in the esthetics of the in prayer. It may be a simple demarcated space on the ground or a
urban mosque. One approach views fragments of esthetic mean- structural element in an edifi ce, as a rule that governs worship and
ing as precedent handed down through history, independent of the construction of an edifi ce; the community (u mmah ) decidedly
meaning or time. Another quotes the formal elements devoid understands theqiblah.
of any meaning. But the picture is more complex; besides com- O wing to the importance of the above esthetic principles and
munal worship there exists a ghostly residue of emotional and the role they play in the design of a contemporary edifi ce, in our
cultural feeling attached to the image of the edifi ce that causes view the masjid is a system of temporal spatial coordinates; it
a most intractable design problem. Towards this end we pro- carries no preconceived order with the exception of the required
vide an evaluation of iconic and non-iconic buildings that sug- physical qiblah orientation of the congregational prayer space
gest hybridity, differentiation, integration, and transcendence. (musalla ) towards Makkah, and except for the cultural over-
Second, in Chapters 2 – 4 a wide range of drawings, plans, sec- lays that quite often may seem to overrule the potential for
tions, and elevations are studied; the analysis of these documents design. As an example, when it comes to direct endorsement of
sheds light on the ideas conceived by the architect for the edifi ce women’s right to full participation in the space of the mosque,
as well as the external working of the site and the building plan. Claude L é vi-Strauss’s notion, ‘r eversible space and linear time’ ,
vii
Preface
can be understood in numerous ways. Above all the notion direct contextual relation to the urban environment and an out-
draws upon popular naive prejudices, which are extended to the come of particular planning considerations. In this regard we
characterization of gender. The problem here is to understand can observe that the plan of the urban mosque is not fi xed; quite
not only how competing visions of congregational space and naturally the design language is rather complex. While urban
spiritual life coexist, but also how they are invested with paral- spaces affect people and human behavior, this level of analysis
lel virtues. Broadly speaking the concept of women’s space is is driven by a complex array of esthetic tropes such as cultural,
driven by dual impulses: a strong sense of culture and custom. traditional, and modern design principles; each concept is apro-
Such impulses are to be questioned for at least two reasons: pos to the perception of the client, community, and/or users.
fi rst, there are enormous architectural implications and, second, The problem is further complex because the city is not a sin-
a whole host of Qur’anic injunctions negate any form of gender gle language; it is composed of multiple creolized spaces and
bias, especially in the communal act of worship. We discuss this it may impose a grammar of urban rules, which refl ect a collec-
point at length in Chapter 5. tive use of habitat and shared place. That is to say, communal
In Europe and American there are four or more stages in the participants in the practice of everyday worship may shape the
development of the urban mosque: an early period dating to the boundaries of public space. These are issues that do not always
turn of the century such as the Mosqu ée de Paris built in 1926; reciprocate or coalesce; furthermore the Diaspora community
secondly, the Islamic Cultural Center of Washington DC built is often engaged in the contesting urban space. The seeming
in 1957; in the third period the proliferation of mosques in the lack of clarity that identifi es the meaning of the term ‘ Diaspora
West such as the London Central Mosque completed in 1977; esthetics ’ has thus far remained superfi cial. The term is not only
and the fourth period from the 1980s to the present day, for related to art, architecture, and worship but the effects of cus-
example the Islamic Cultural Center of New York built in 1990. tom, law, and the social values that sustain the lifestyle of the
Much of the extant regional examples from the Muslim community. In addition, each community has its own specifi c
world, that are taken as precedent, informs the formative con- geographic and regional circumstances and history; as a result
cept of a masjid. As we have stated above it is important that we cannot exclude these factors.
the architect understands that the Qur’an does not prescribe a As we shall see in Chapter 1, a number of polemics give legiti-
fi xed plan or style for the building; in contrast, we are allowed macy to ‘ Diaspora esthetics ’ – or the widespread idea that
an open-ended set of relationships for design and the commu- beauty is extra muros , i.e. coming from a foreign place. The
nal act of worship to occur. This point was discussed at length idea gains legitimacy from what Soliman Nyang (similarly also
in Deconstructing the American Mosque: Space, Gender and Mircea Eliade) refers to as the ‘ myth of return ’, which is simply
Aesthetics (Kahera, 2002), which proposed a hypothesis that the common perception of compatriots who share a strong sense
describes specifi c understanding of doctrinal ideas, gender, of nostalgia and are thus driven to keep the ‘ m yth of return’
and esthetic relationships. In this connection many communi- alive. Faced with this sense of nostalgia they cling to a plethora
ties lack decisive power largely because of the inability to reach of familiar and often symbolic representative forms, shapes, and
general consensus or communal agreeability in their new and images from a foreign place of origin, while at the same time
often multicultural urban contexts; extending this argument, it is plotting always to return to that place; if only the myth is kept
clear that a community will always try to resurrect and impose in mind an embodiment of their inhabited actions is expressed
familiar, and often dominant, extra muros cultural confi gura- in their newly adopted context.
tions and representations. Nowhere is this observation more true than in urban settings,
In general the resultant spatial arrangements that respond to where the image of the city is being transformed with layers of
the urban environment and the city are also part of a transnational cultural and religious diversity added to the fabric of the city.
form of Islam whereby culture, identity, and religious practice Each layer is the result of Diaspora, which comes with each
become inseparable. So there is little doubt that the appearance of wave of Muslim immigrants and, as such, because the urban
the urban mosque holds symbolic value for the stakeholder, which mosque is a communal construction, it also depicts unique
is not likely to be solved via design mechanisms, proxy cultural forms of relationships and urban boundaries.
representations, or stylistic criteria alone. Today, the ability to Embedded in the idea of ‘ the myth of return ’ are two criti-
work within virtual space and 3D modeling processes provide cal questions related to Diaspora esthetics, and art, architecture
an opportunity to predict how the structure and design functions and communal worship: (1) What does it mean to be a Muslim
and to identify potential planning problems beforehand. That is in a particular urban setting in the West? (2) How does the vis-
to say, an effective design analysis requires careful consideration, ual expression of the urban mosque on the physical landscape
while also allowing for deeper connotative, conceptual, semantic, explain identity? The construction of religious identity can be
and/or symbolic processes to simultaneously emerge. viewed as a set of allegorical relationships; one of the most visual
It is no accident that over the last three or more decades the materializations of Muslim religious identity is the appearance of
urban mosque has witnessed remarkable development. It might the urban mosque. Until there is consensus about the defi nition
be argued that this is the result of Diaspora and the infl ux architects will need to be clear about the more important func-
Muslims who now reside in greater London, Rome, Paris, New tions of the building.
York, Atlanta, Houston, Washington DC, etc. It might also be With regards to art and worship, epigraphy has both essence
argued that the urban model that imposed itself in the city is in and appearance, it is self-evident, it has meaning when it is
viii
Preface
read, or even when it is rendered in a highly stylized manner codify a set of conventions that organize the space of the urban
it evokes delight. Calligraphy is a composition that transmits a mosque in Europe and America. The second subject is to pro-
message. For example, when seen as art it exhibits beauty and vide an analysis of an operative code by examining various case
meaning; the communicative power exists because of its syntac- studies; this analysis will help us to understand how the ten-
tical structure. In terms of syntax the development of epigraphy ets of space affect form and function beyond the simple infl u-
was more systematized and controlled than the structure of a ence and residue of culture – we always carry our baggage, but
building simply because it is essential that the meaning of a text don’t always have to make it the fi rst move. Finally, the book
must be understood. will address the conceptual framework, the common distinction
But what happens when we add epigraphy to a structure, what between the sacred and the profane that is enforced even in the
happens to parts of the structure or the form? What happens when secular city and that has a profound impact on the rituals which
epigraphy is absent from a structure? The same phenomena exist establish it. Our research was conducted because we understand
in Europe and America, where we fi nd the absence and the pres- the problem and we recognize the need to explain the concep-
ence of epigraphy in the mosque. The European and American tual framework of the urban mosque; therefore what follows is a
mosques display an enigmatic use of ornament, inscription, archi- critical study of the common principles that infl uence the design
tectural form, and imagery. Three conditions are identifi able: of the mosque. The study remains important yet it is impossible
within the scope of this book to discuss all the extant examples,
1. T he primacy of the act of devotion as a necessary criterion
so we have selected a few different examples. In short this is
in determining the characteristics of a liturgical space.
meant to give the reader in-depth information and to explain
2. The embellishment of a space for devotion is a contingent
issues of spiritual sanctity in the manner of John Ruskin’s S even
matter that, although integral to worship, is entirely inde-
Lamps of Architecture and Staale Sinding-Larsen’s The Burden
pendent of any liturgical requirements.
of the Ceremony Master: Image and Action in San Marco
3. In terms of architectural history we are confronted with the
Venice, and in an Islamic Mosque. Above all, we must remem-
issue of historical precedent and antecedent, or the various
ber that ‘ place making ’ is not created ex nihilo , and that ritual
ways an earlier building has explicitly infl uenced a later one.
and religious space matter.
These enigmatic features are directly related to the problem of Akel Kahera
esthetic consciousness and the question of regional identity. The Latif Abdulmalik
subject of the book is therefore threefold. First, it is intended to Craig Anz
ix
About the authors
Akel Kahera Ph.D. received his Bachelor of Architecture from for several years at King Faisal University Dammam, Saudi
Pratt Institute Brooklyn, New York, a Master of Architecture from Arabia, and FIT New York, NY. He is currently an architect/
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, and a consultant in Brooklyn, New York.
Ph.D. from Princeton University. He has previously taught at Craig Anz received his Bachelor of Environmental Design
the University of Texas at Austin and Texas Tech University. in Architecture from Texas A& M University, his professional
He is currently a Professor of Architecture and Community Masters of Architecture from the University of Texas at Arlington,
Development at Prairie View A & M University, where he also and a Masters of Architectural Studies in history and theory at the
serves as the Director of the Texas Institute for the Preservation University of Texas at Austin. His Ph.D. at Texas emphasized a
of History and Culture. Dr Kahera has published more than synthesis of urban design, community development, epistemology,
twenty scholarly articles on architecture and urbanism, and critical social theory, and environmental discourse. He is currently
is the author of Deconstructing the American Mosque : Space an NCARB certifi ed architect and faculty member at Southern
Gender and Aesthetics , University of Texas Press (2002). Illinois University School of Architecture.
Latif Abdulmalik received his Bachelor of Architecture from
the Cooper Union, New York, NY and has taught architecture
xi
1
T he synthesis of form
L’exemple des musulmans peut nous é clairer au sujet de la particularit é des formes de lieux de culte en contexte migratoire:
en effet, en terre d’immigration, la mosqu é e adopte souvent la forme et les functions d’un centre communautaire … La
mosqué e au sens o ù nous l’entendons poss èd e souvent un statut et des ressources plus importantes, et certaines d’entre elles,
en tant qu’institutions islamiques, fonctionnent comme marqueurs symboliques dans l’espace urbain …
Julie Elizabeth Gagnon and Annick Germain,
Espace urbain et religion (2002)
Diaspora and the urban mosque power over the essential or substantial image of the edifi ce. To
situate the problem it is important to realize that both architect
Today , one of the most visual expressions of global Muslim and client basically face three related design choices. Firstly, an
religious identity in Europe and America is the existence of the approach that attempts to interpret and to bring critical analy-
urban mosque (m asjid ). With an estimated 4.1 million Muslims sis to bear on the fundamental understanding of space, form,
in the USA, 4.1 million in France, 3.2 million in Germany, 1.8 symbol and order, which makes it possible to avoid what can
million in the UK, and 1 million in Italy, the most prevailing be considered esthetic anomalies or disparities within multicon-
aspect of this identity exists within the four most populous urban ditional contexts. In other words too often the urban mosque is
metropolitan areas of New York City, London, Paris, and Rome described in terms of a particular subjective cultural idea and
among others (PBS.org., 2007). The term ‘ urban mosque’ refers its associated esthetic icons and appliqu és , ‘ removed from
to the representative religious edifi ce constructed by Muslims their original contexts’ . It is with that understanding that the
who reside primarily within urban locales in the western world; work becomes a purely performance objective for the archi-
often described as an Islamic center (m arkaz ), it is where the tect to build the underlying functional format upon; to merely
faithful gather to engage in communal worship, spiritual retreat, graft displaced cultural representations also override or give a
matrimony, education, and other signifi cant socio-cultural activ- false impression of the overall ideals of the religion. Secondly,
ities. The key challenge for an architect who is commissioned because the mosque is a building type endowed with an over
to design an urban mosque is how to interpret the broad range 1500-year history as well as a deep-seated array of traditional
of esthetic, liturgical requirements and site planning consid- infl uences, it may be very diffi cult for any client or architect
erations that also coexist or are co-substantiated within a given to suspend the temptation to randomly borrow a priori ideas,
urban setting; particularly those composed within multicul- arbitrary precedents, or eidetic representational forms from the
tural infl uences, while also being true to the inherent properties corpus of examples that exist throughout the Muslim world.
that defi ne the faith, its identity, and its sacred place. In other The confusion that can form with such a vast array of ideas and
words, how does an architect deal with this particular building images along with the general opposition toward traditional
type to arrive at a synthesis of recurrent and shared common, infl uences within modernist thinking can also lead to purely
characteristic, and distinguishing elements of a mosque such reductive views and processes that create building forms com-
as the minaret , mihrab, or dome, while also seeking innova- pletely detached from the fundamentals that form the quin-
tive, esthetic, contextual, or place-specifi c ideals without loss tessential Muslim edifi ce and its embodied, global identity.
of validity, truth, or value. Because urban Islam is often imbed- Finally, many communities lack decisive power and collective,
ded in a transnational identity, the collective activity of worship communicative action over cultural style and imagery largely
treats the mosque as a refl ection of the particulars of a displaced because of the inability to reach consensus. Local precedents,
Diaspora community, yet within the intrinsic belief system, that codes, social structures, and practices here can also override
which is essential remains in memory; the urban mosque spans the necessary components, which defi ne the overall identity
a range of cultural nuances, traditional styles, modern schemes, of the mosque and its participants as a collective community.
traditional styles or even hybrid appearance, which can have Therefore, there is need for informed architectural leadership
1
Design Criteria for Mosques and Islamic Centers
and engaged advocacy in mediating or even synthesizing shared is the sanctuary, the primary assembly space (or m usalla )
experiences from multiple views into new contexts as mani- where men and women gather to pray on a daily basis, read the
fested, built forms that represent and maintain the overall reli- Qur’an and engage in a host of pious activities. Aside from cul-
gious identity, while also meeting local standards, practices, and tural rivalries over women’s unfettered access to the mosque –
social views. The literature on this topic is now more frequently not withstanding confl icted feelings common to a furor of
available as a resource but a key question remains for the archi- legal opinion, which carry authority, and in extreme cases
tect: how to interpret the specifi c symbolic and esthetic asso- censorship – such cases are hard to assess by an architect within
ciations for the urban mosque in Europe and their implications differing or even confl icting contexts, views, and standards of
within greater, multifaceted contexts? Is it at all possible to con- performance.
ceive of an urban mosque as an authentic European or American Above all the design conceptualization of faith, spirituality,
representation, but also an ongoing composite form, while and esthetics can support two primary tropes. First, to preserve
also retaining authentic value and identity to its practicing faith? the identity of the various forms that constitute the elements of
Authenticity means that the architecture of the mosque has a a religious edifi ce for men and women, elements that thematize
twofold space conception: spiritual and physical, epistemologi- the relationship between spiritual repose, spatial equity, and
cal and esthetic. These are fundamental areas of concern, which esthetics. In this sense it is important for an architect to remem-
an architect will have to decipher and from which to compose ber that the Promethean myth does not exist in Islam. As you
form and structure. It is within these areas that the architect recall Prometheus, who according to Greek legend frustrated
will also have to learn to become a mediator or negotiator of the plans of Zeus, embodied individual idealism – the capac-
experiences, beliefs, and ways of knowing, while also bringing ity to overcome or to remedy shortcomings by reason and the
to bear on the design, the basics of building codes, local power of free will. All of this has no particular artistic value to
zoning ordinances, and socio-cultural dogmas. Most importantly the esthetics of a mosque.

F igure 1.0 GIS map (2008) showing the location of Houston area urban mosques. (Drawing courtesy of Robert Thurmond)
2