Project story · Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Light through a carved screen
In Dubai, Al Salam Mosque sets a simple stone volume beside a courtyard of olive and date trees, and lets light do the decorating.
By byJOOM · Al Salam Mosque · Civic and cultural
A mosque and a community centre
Al Salam Mosque is a mosque and community centre of pale limestone around a shaded courtyard. It is for daily prayer and community life: a prayer hall, a courtyard for gathering, classrooms, a library and a multipurpose hall for talks and events, with a minaret as a landmark. A mosque is a place of prayer and also one of a community's most important public buildings.
A simple stone volume
The prayer hall is a simple pitched stone volume with a skylight. It does not try to be a monument. In the pictures the building is calm and pale beside the dark, tall minaret, and its geometry is quiet enough to suit the climate and, the design hopes, not to date.
A carved bronze screen
A tall carved bronze screen on the entrance front is the one rich gesture. Close up, the screen is a fine geometric pattern that filters the light, and inside the prayer hall tall screens turn strong sun into soft, moving patterns on the floor and walls. The building is calm, and the light does the work.
A courtyard of olive and date trees
Around the courtyard, a low cloister of classrooms and halls gathers the community. The olive-tree courtyard is where people meet before and after prayer, with a circular seat beneath the trees. A classroom opens to it, and so does the multipurpose hall, so that learning and gathering happen in the same shaded room.
Thick stone, deep shade and a quiet geometry that suit the climate and should not date.
Thick stone, deep shade
Thick stone and deep shade suit the climate. In the sunset view the courtyard is warm and the pale stone takes the colour of the sky, and the shade under the cloister is deep. Because the building is a public one, the courtyard and the approaches are generous and welcoming.
A quiet geometry
A quiet geometry should not date. The design relies on stone, shade, a carved screen and good proportion, and it asks the visitor for nothing but to come in.
