Islamic Architecture
The Vanishing Mosque
This is a design by RUX design and i am writing a piece for my degree on it. I would like you to look at it and give me your opinion. Is this right? Is it wrong? how would you feel if you were to pray outdoors instead of indoors? Any comments or discussions much appreciated. The web link is below
Christopher Cooke
The Vanishing Mosque
Its a great idea of combining the flow of city every day life with people praying,it seems to be extend able but I feared of weather conditions plus the privacy for women.
Fariha Tariq
The Vanishing Mosque
"vanishing mosque"? it rather felt otherwise: the mosque had expanded to include open spaces, which is usually the case when the actual mosque is just too small to accommodate the number of people. it would be interesting to see how this would influence retail/commercial and public access.
Jofer Magsi
The Vanishing Mosque
Prayer area is a sacred area. I do not know how an area functioning as a plaza in the day and being used for other activities can be converted into prayer area for purpose of salat without cleaning it properly.
Ikram Mohammed
The Vanishing Mosque
The idea is good,there is nothing wrong in it.But it is not a new one.Every place on earth is a place of prayer(musallah) if it is clean enough as taught by prophet & the open air design seen in masjid haram in makkah & indian sub continent are ideas taken from prophets first masjid in madeena which did'nt have a roof at first & had just a covering of palm leaves to escape the sun.
Shiad Majeed
The Vanishing Mosque

philosophically and typologically there seems to be nothing wrong with the concept. After all the open courtyard type mosques are the predominant typologies in many parts of the world notably in South Asia.

The model for this type is of course based on the Prophet's house. But the answer is not as simple as it appears. In congested and busy urban contexts this becomes problematic. In big Indian cities like Mumbai and Delhi the overflow of devotees on Fridays from neighbourhood mosques on to major traffic arteries create huge disruptions. Therefore the whole idea has to be seen in totality. Apart from this the consecration of space is also an issue. I also feel that a subtle symbolic gesture has to be made signifying the religious function of the space.
Sambuddha Sen
The Vanishing Mosque
Christopher, This is `a chicken and egg` situation, because you appear to be assuming that the building (for use a mosque) came first, whereas, most founding faiths started by praying in the open air to be nearer to God and only later moved into buildings.

One place I know of that is an "open air" mosque, is upon the flat top of a hill in the old town of Safranbolu in Turkey, known as "Hidirlik" there is a small paved area, with a short section of stone wall with an alcove (to show the dirction of Mecca) and a set of stone steps leading into the wall and is the seat for the imam.

Given that Safranbolu is an site of ancient settlement (and a World Heritage site), then this minimalist "open air" mosque must have been built several hundred years ago by the Ottoman Turks, given that there are quite a few fine examples of Ottoman architecture (Caravanseri, Hammam, Mosques, Camas, etc., built of stone, together with literally hundreds of timber-framed houses.
Frank John Snelling

