Overview
A place of worship where fretwork screens, arched openings and a domed light well filter daylight into the prayer hall.
- Discipline
- Spiritual & Cultural
- Type
- Place of Worship
- Imagery
- CGI visualisation
- Frames
- 3
Intent
A place of worship where daylight is filtered rather than admitted directly. An arched colonnade fronts the landscaped approach, an ablution corridor runs behind perforated screens, and the prayer hall is lit from a domed opening overhead and through fretwork at its edges.
Language
Fretwork screens, arched openings and a domed ceiling light, with timber decking underfoot at the ablution corridor and planting along its length. The pattern in the screens carries the ornament, and the surfaces behind them are left plain so the light is what is seen.
Features
- 01
Approach and colonnade
An arched colonnade fronts the building and gives a shaded threshold between the landscaped approach and the interior. Passing under it slows the pace of arrival, which is the purpose of the sequence rather than a decorative addition to it.
- 02
Ablution corridor
Timber decking underfoot, perforated screens along one side and planting the length of the route. The screens give privacy while keeping the corridor open to air and daylight, so it stays ventilated and dries quickly between prayers.
- 03
The prayer hall
Arched openings set the rhythm of the walls and fretwork screens filter the light entering at the edges. The floor is left clear for rows, and ornament is held to the screens and arches, above the eye line of anyone at prayer.
- 04
The domed light
A domed ceiling light sits over the hall and brings daylight down through its centre. It gives the room a single point of orientation overhead, and the quality of light beneath it changes through the day without any fitting being adjusted.
Specification
- Screens
- Fretwork and perforated panels
- Structure
- Arched colonnade, arched openings, ceiling dome
- Flooring
- Timber decking to the ablution corridor
- Landscape
- Planting along the approach and corridor
Daylight is the main source. It comes down through the domed opening over the hall and sideways through the fretwork and perforated screens, so it arrives broken up rather than direct, and the level shifts through the day.
Frames
Timber-decked ablution corridor with perforated screens and planting Prayer hall with fretwork screens, arched openings and domed ceiling light
In closing
A building that treats daylight as the material being worked. The screens, the arches and the dome are all doing one job: bringing light into the prayer hall gently, and leaving the hall itself quiet.