Under the theme of "Mosque: a cross-cultural building", the 4th cycle of the Abdullatif Alfozan Award for Mosque Architecture (2020-2023) has announced its 5 winning projects hailing from Australia, Turkey, Serbia, Slovenia, and Mozambique. The award ceremony took place at the Riyadh National Museum on March 5th, 2023, followed by a 2-day architectural seminar in which the architects explained the design process behind their winning projects.
Looking into mosques between the past, present, and future, the selection took into account each project's contextuality, privacy, its religious and architectural significance, and contribution to the community. Over 200 mosque were submitted from across the world, narrowed down to a shortlist of 22 projects. The five winning mosques, however, were commended for looking beyond common mosque typologies, as they explored the importance of feeling within a religious space, their value as "urban communication tools", and how their architectural languages are re-establishing the values of the religion.
Read on to discover the winners of the Abdullatif Alfozan Award for Mosque Architecture, along with the jury's comments.
Islamic Religious and Cultural Center in Ljubljana / Bevk Perović arhitekti - Slovenia
It is a conventional center adding high tech envelop treatment within the architectural element. Its hidden dome was embedded inside the main cubical body of the prayer hall, although the minaret was added, it was not dominating with the overall aesthetic appearance of the mosque. The mosque resonates a profound urban fabric quality.
Tupalla Mosque / Arber Sadiki G+A Architects - Serbia
This mosque signifies simplicity in architectural design which fits with the natural environment. The interesting part of the design is the implemented lighting inside a very limited interior raising the spiritual quality.
Dogramacizade Ali Pasa Mosque / Erkut Sahinbas - Turkey
In today’s vision, the typical form of a Mosque has been associated with a dome and a minaret, this mosque was chosen to show an evolved articulated base reminding us of muqarnas geometry, which is missing in contemporary architecture today, where the dome is added as a feature. The plan of its complexity of its multifunctional purpose shows the mosques’ role in the social context.
Australian Islamic Center / Elevli Plus, Glenn Murcutt - Australia
This Mosque shows another approach of the sacred building to be mostly cultural, serving the community needs keeping the mosque simple, the architect tried to insert the presence of the minaret in an unprecedented form. The prayer hall shows a characteristic introduction of the cosmic behavior through the interplay of light during the day and the season from within the roof creating different moods.
Abu Bakr Mosque / Muhammad Mayet Architects - Mozambique
The design approach of the mosque showed competence with the traditional heritage values of mosque design. The mosque reiterated traditional mosque typology in a simple basic manner. This reflected in the opening and the supporting beams of the roof structure. The overall silhouette showcases the minaret in a coherent articulated growth from the base.
Chaired by architect Rasem Badran (Jordan and Saudi Arabia), the jury members included architect Emre Arolat (Turkey), architect Kashif Chowdhury (Bangladesh), artist Ahmad Mostapha (United Kingdom), and sociologist Sari Hanafi (France). The jury selected the winning projects based on a list of criteria, such as mosque connectivity with the surrounding environment, evolution of new forms, resonation of urban fabrics, serving surrounded communities, and competence with local cultures, which were all evaluated following a technical report prepared by reviewers who visited the mosques and met with their respective architects.
The award ceremony was held under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Bandar (Prince Of Riyadh) and HRH Prince Sultan bin Salman, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Award. The award founder, Sheikh Abdullatif Alfozan, Mr. Abdullah Alfozan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alfozan Social Foundation, and Dr. Mashary Al-Naim, Secretary-General of the Award, were present among the audience, along with architects, engineers, researchers, and Islamic architecture specialists. Each winning project was awarded with $100,000.
