Inhabited Space Essay

Mosque

For my mosque project, I focused on the ones I visited. Turkey is a country full of mosques and I had the opportunity of seeing many different examples. Hagia Sophia was one of the examples that had a great influence on my perspective towards the structure of mosques. For my general research, I looked at Islamic patterns, textures and mosque examples across the entire world. This is a public, religious space that is created for Islamic belief. However, even though it is an Islamic structure I believe that it is not only for Muslims but it is space that should be experienced by people from every religion and belief.

It is not a space that should only be used during the prayers but it is a cultural place that should be visited. I believe that in these last two years, İslamophobia had become a real issue in the entire world and it got pushed away. But as a person that has experienced this problem, I can say that it is a really wrong judgment. Religion should not be something that can tear communities in pieces but it should be something that can connect them.

For the rainwater collection system, I placed two funnels into the minarets that are placed on the two sides of the mosque. The crescents placed on the top of the minarets have holes in them which transfers the water into the funnels in the minarets and they continue all the way down until it reaches the ground. So the water is collected underground and transferred to the water reserves of the building.

The activities that can be organized in this space does not have to be limited with prayers. I believe that it can also be used as a space that can be visited as a museum of a whole different culture.

The patterns and textures I used in the interior space are Islamic patterns. They are in different colors and sizes but they are examples that are actually used in different mosques. I placed them with the collage technique because I wanted them to look at a single piece even though they belong into different spaces across the world. I also did not want to use any pattern on the outside because I want to place this mosque into New York streets and I do not want it to look too dominate among the other buildings. For the surroundings, I used a foam board to indicate that it is placed on a plain, smooth surface. I also used white lines to show the sidewalk and the road surrounding it. With these simple materials, I wanted to emphasize that is placed on a regular street in New York City.

 

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