Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Egyptian architect Hazem Bassal’s design for this iconic mosque in Dubai fulfills the need for user segregation, orientation toward Mecca, and all the nuanced program requirements that will have the capacity to hold regular daily prayers as well as Friday and Eid prayers.

Made up of layered shells, the largest one doubles as a dome typical in a mosque, also as a mihrab pointing towards Qibla, and a shield against thermal gain that shades the building. 

The resulting sculptural form poses as a monumental Mihrab, a seashell, or a pearl (in a tribute to the city’s pearling heritage), all while capturing the essence of Islamic architecture with its minimalist geometric character.

The quintessential mosque comprises a minaret and a dome as the main architectural features that lend the mosque its recognizable image. 

However, in a setting dominated by tall slender buildings that Dubai is known for and not to mention the project’s main feature which will be the tallest spire in the city, the minaret as a functional landmark standing out to give a mosque its presence becomes an obsolete gesture unable to stand out especially taking into account the close proximity of the mosque site to the feature tower. 

As such, the aim becomes to arrive at a form that compliments the project’s main feature tower instead of competing with it, thus the minaret was omitted and all is left is a grand dome as a contrast to the vertical forms it’s surrounded by which helps it stand out.

With the starting form being a dome, the form began to morph as it became influenced by the contextual and cultural identity of the site, the city, and the country, which culminated in the influence of the mihrab in the traditional Islamic architecture where its the ornamented semicircular niche in the mosque’s wall indicating the Qibla’s direction, the seashells as the influence of the site’s location on the waterfront, and finally the country’s historic pearling industry and Dubai’s designation as “the pearl of the gulf.”

The resulting form is a reaction to all these inspirations standing as a tribute and an icon.

Given the harsh weather conditions in Dubai, the form is oriented so that the monolithic backside of the shell faces the Southern west exposure aiming to reduce heat gain, whilst the shells are layered to allow for insulation with air seeping upwards between every two shells through stack ventilation.

Project: Iconic Mosque
Architects: Studio Bassal
Client: Emaar