The Cultural Center
ARCHITECTURAL CONCEPT_
Using architecture to bridge cultural divides and to shape new thoughts.
As seen in the proposed design, the Islamic Cultural Centre embraces both local context as well as Islamic culture with the use of basic materials and a respect for site, climate, place and culture. The design amalgamates the key traditional elements of a mosque with a modern interpretation that reflects the local environment. Neither camouflaged nor celebratory, the new Cultural Centre has an ambiguous presence in its urban setting.
Situated on the junction of Parnell Street, Wickham Street, Sexton Street and Upper Gerald Griffin Street on a small and difficult site the proposed design reflects the sites constraints. The city’s historic character, history city grid, existing street scape, existing site axes, approaching vistas, buildings nature, Mecca and environmental aspects have determined the building location, size, form and
materiality.
The Cultural Centre is a building to worship in, a place for all to gather in and a place for all to meet. The aspiration is to create a contemporary Cultural Centre that can provide a community space for both Muslims and non-Muslims, moving away from the traditional forms of Islamic Culture.
The project has been designed as a continuous piece of landscape that begins at the street edge some distance from the building. The outer walls aligned to the street grid and the inner chamber rotated in the direction of worship. Instead of entering a private courtyard through a small opening the public are invited into the place of worship through a large pivoting door which is protected from the elements by the floor plan above. The Islamic Cultural Centre intentionally presents an open and encompassing face to its community, inviting people to enter from all walks in life.
The buildings appearance is minimalistic to the exterior but through its discrete apertures that are designed to face variously north, south, east and west the interior spaces are illuminated by natural light that changes the character of the main worship space accordingly from morning to afternoon.
From the beginning we as the designers knew that the Cultural Centre should simultaneously
embrace Islamic design traditions and address the spirit of local and Irish communities, it had to be inclusive and respectful to people of all faiths. The building draws from the functional and semitic
language of traditional Cultural Centre architecture, considering fundamentals such as orientation towards Mecca, a large central prayer hall, bodies of still water, provision for facilities for ablutions completed prior to prayer and separate spaces, as required culturally, for men and women.
The separation of men and women in Muslim spaces has its roots in Ottoman Islam and has
become a global typological norm.
The building is organised as a set of interconnecting spaces arranged across the two public levels and two private levels. An internal & external gathering space, male ablution facilities, male toilets and the male level of the worship space occupy the ground level. The first floor, accessed via stairs and elevator, provides a set of elevated spaces for women. Spaces such as female gathering spaces, female ablution facilities, female toilets and the female worship space occupy this mezzanine like first floor. Through a perforated screen, the moving silhouettes of the females can be seen from below with the proposed mezzanine placing the female worshippers at the heart of the Cultural Centre.
The upper two levels are more private due to their nature and ancillary to the running of the Mosque. The mosque is run and funded by a charity organisation and for this organisation to work they require an element of office space. This office space is located on the second floor.
As in a traditional Cultural Centre, the Pastor lives on site and looks after the day to day workings of the building. There has been a one bedroom apartment designed on the top floor to allow for this requirement.
One enters the Building through the main door into what feels like an indoor courtyard acting as a gathering space reminiscent of traditional Cultural Centre sahn courtyards and provides additional space for congregations, such as those that gather during prayer. One makes their way from this space into the ablution space to begin their purification process prior to entering the Musalla (worship space).
Beyond the “indoor sahn”, doors open directly into the quadruple height volume of the main prayer hall, the “Musalla”. The pivot doors open into a space that is first dark, then bright, an antichamber pierced by shafts of daylight. These shafts of daylight are designed to illuminate the space throughout the day for the five prayers. A clear line of sight is maintained right through the prayer hall to the main mihrab, qibla wall, and water gardens. At some point during the internal journey from the front door to the area of worship the memory of the busy streets has been left behind. Slowly the eye begins to adjust to the prayer rooms lofty ceiling and many gradients of shadow.
The exterior of the ground and first floor is solid in its majority. Privacy is key in a place of worship and the nature of this space is reflected on the buildings exterior.
Throughout history, the Cultural Centre has been a place of otherness, turned away from its busy immediate context and towards the universal elsewhere of the Kaaba. Internally, this modern Cultural Centre achieves the same.
Several workshops took place over the duration of the design process arising many questions, particularly those that related to the dome and the minaret. As the minaret was traditionally used as a place for the calling of prayers, in Limerick, this was not likely to happen.
As the footprint of the building was extremely small, it was difficult to incorporate all the traditional spaces usually found in a Cultural Centre.
Prayer is one of the Five Pillars of Islamic faith. Prayer is a duty, a practice, and a spiritual act of worship. The faithful must answer the call to prayer five times a day – facing Mecca, standing in intimate proximity, they will bow at the waist, prostrate themselves on seven bones, forehead to the floor. With each posture, appropriate prayers are recited, the physical ritual aligned with the spiritual offering. Prayer as powerful discipline.
The exterior or the building begins to open as the elevation ascends, cleverly letting light and ventilation into all spaces while maintaining a sense of privacy. Light and air enter the office and living spaces through windows that are screened behind the light shaft above the entrance and through the perforated brick walls. The perforation of the brick creates a unique atmosphere in these spaces while maintaining a certain level of privacy from the busy urban environment in which the building is located. The buildings verticality in elevation and the proposed materiality gives a subtle gesture to the cities Georgian history.
The Cultural Center
ARCHITECTURAL CONCEPT_
Using architecture to bridge cultural divides and to shape new thoughts.
As seen in the proposed design, the Islamic Cultural Centre embraces both local context as well as Islamic culture with the use of basic materials and a respect for site, climate, place and culture. The design amalgamates the key traditional elements of a mosque with a modern interpretation that reflects the local environment. Neither camouflaged nor celebratory, the new Cultural Centre has an ambiguous presence in its urban setting.
Situated on the junction of Parnell Street, Wickham Street, Sexton Street and Upper Gerald Griffin Street on a small and difficult site the proposed design reflects the sites constraints. The city’s historic character, history city grid, existing street scape, existing site axes, approaching vistas, buildings nature, Mecca and environmental aspects have determined the building location, size, form and
materiality.
The Cultural Centre is a building to worship in, a place for all to gather in and a place for all to meet. The aspiration is to create a contemporary Cultural Centre that can provide a community space for both Muslims and non-Muslims, moving away from the traditional forms of Islamic Culture.
The project has been designed as a continuous piece of landscape that begins at the street edge some distance from the building. The outer walls aligned to the street grid and the inner chamber rotated in the direction of worship. Instead of entering a private courtyard through a small opening the public are invited into the place of worship through a large pivoting door which is protected from the elements by the floor plan above. The Islamic Cultural Centre intentionally presents an open and encompassing face to its community, inviting people to enter from all walks in life.
The buildings appearance is minimalistic to the exterior but through its discrete apertures that are designed to face variously north, south, east and west the interior spaces are illuminated by natural light that changes the character of the main worship space accordingly from morning to afternoon.
From the beginning we as the designers knew that the Cultural Centre should simultaneously
embrace Islamic design traditions and address the spirit of local and Irish communities, it had to be inclusive and respectful to people of all faiths. The building draws from the functional and semitic
language of traditional Cultural Centre architecture, considering fundamentals such as orientation towards Mecca, a large central prayer hall, bodies of still water, provision for facilities for ablutions completed prior to prayer and separate spaces, as required culturally, for men and women.
The separation of men and women in Muslim spaces has its roots in Ottoman Islam and has
become a global typological norm.
The building is organised as a set of interconnecting spaces arranged across the two public levels and two private levels. An internal & external gathering space, male ablution facilities, male toilets and the male level of the worship space occupy the ground level. The first floor, accessed via stairs and elevator, provides a set of elevated spaces for women. Spaces such as female gathering spaces, female ablution facilities, female toilets and the female worship space occupy this mezzanine like first floor. Through a perforated screen, the moving silhouettes of the females can be seen from below with the proposed mezzanine placing the female worshippers at the heart of the Cultural Centre.
The upper two levels are more private due to their nature and ancillary to the running of the Mosque. The mosque is run and funded by a charity organisation and for this organisation to work they require an element of office space. This office space is located on the second floor.
As in a traditional Cultural Centre, the Pastor lives on site and looks after the day to day workings of the building. There has been a one bedroom apartment designed on the top floor to allow for this requirement.
One enters the Building through the main door into what feels like an indoor courtyard acting as a gathering space reminiscent of traditional Cultural Centre sahn courtyards and provides additional space for congregations, such as those that gather during prayer. One makes their way from this space into the ablution space to begin their purification process prior to entering the Musalla (worship space).
Beyond the “indoor sahn”, doors open directly into the quadruple height volume of the main prayer hall, the “Musalla”. The pivot doors open into a space that is first dark, then bright, an antichamber pierced by shafts of daylight. These shafts of daylight are designed to illuminate the space throughout the day for the five prayers. A clear line of sight is maintained right through the prayer hall to the main mihrab, qibla wall, and water gardens. At some point during the internal journey from the front door to the area of worship the memory of the busy streets has been left behind. Slowly the eye begins to adjust to the prayer rooms lofty ceiling and many gradients of shadow.
The exterior of the ground and first floor is solid in its majority. Privacy is key in a place of worship and the nature of this space is reflected on the buildings exterior.
Throughout history, the Cultural Centre has been a place of otherness, turned away from its busy immediate context and towards the universal elsewhere of the Kaaba. Internally, this modern Cultural Centre achieves the same.
Several workshops took place over the duration of the design process arising many questions, particularly those that related to the dome and the minaret. As the minaret was traditionally used as a place for the calling of prayers, in Limerick, this was not likely to happen.
As the footprint of the building was extremely small, it was difficult to incorporate all the traditional spaces usually found in a Cultural Centre.
Prayer is one of the Five Pillars of Islamic faith. Prayer is a duty, a practice, and a spiritual act of worship. The faithful must answer the call to prayer five times a day – facing Mecca, standing in intimate proximity, they will bow at the waist, prostrate themselves on seven bones, forehead to the floor. With each posture, appropriate prayers are recited, the physical ritual aligned with the spiritual offering. Prayer as powerful discipline.
The exterior or the building begins to open as the elevation ascends, cleverly letting light and ventilation into all spaces while maintaining a sense of privacy. Light and air enter the office and living spaces through windows that are screened behind the light shaft above the entrance and through the perforated brick walls. The perforation of the brick creates a unique atmosphere in these spaces while maintaining a certain level of privacy from the busy urban environment in which the building is located. The buildings verticality in elevation and the proposed materiality gives a subtle gesture to the cities Georgian history.