Algiers, Algeria
Designed by KSP Engel together with landscape architects Rainer Schmidt, the Djamaâ el-Djazaïr Mosquée d’Algérie is the world’s third-largest mosque after Mecca and Medina.
The mosque was recently awarded a 2021 International Architecture Awards from The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum.
The mosque’s 265 m (869 ft) minaret is the world’s tallest, which makes it the tallest building in Africa, and houses an observation deck atop on the 37th floor. The minaret also houses a museum of Islamic history and culture.
Next to this place of worship, there will be a shopping mall with a cinema, a cultural and congress center with a library, a video and film store, and an international Qur’anic school with affiliated campus buildings.
The religious and cultural center is a symbolic yet tangible and utilitarian offering designed to support the nation’s social cohesion.
The mosque sits on a site covering 400,000 m2 (4,300,000 sq ft) and overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
The prayer hall has a capacity of 37,000 worshippers, while the structure including the compound can house up to 120,000 worshippers and has parking space for 7,000 cars.
The mosque is designed to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 and the structure has been specially processed to resist corrosion.
The main prayer hall has 618 octagonal columns serving as support pillars and 6 km (3.7 mi) of calligraphic writing engraved with a laser system. The dome of the prayer hall has a diameter of 50 m (160 ft) and rises to a height of 70 m (230 ft).
The task involved the challenge to bring together cultural, religious, and national-representative qualities in one place. As reflections of paradise as described in the Qur’an, traditional gardens and the diversity of nature form the base of the design.
Following Islamic tradition, water, the symbol of life an emblem of purity and mercy, will be made a central element of the gardens.
The open areas will perform several functions: As parts of the religious complex, they create a structure for the network of paths between the different areas of use, while serving as attractive places to stay and retreat, offering shade and chill.
The vanishing lines of the buildings and their accesses are the texturing elements of the gardens.
The main promenade, the Axe Sud, runs south of the mosque and leads to the main entrance of the prayer room (Salle de Prière) at the east side of the building complex.
This axis of paths is lined with shady trees and accompanied by a watercourse.
Near the Salle de Prière, the Axe Nord will be continued by a 4.5-meter high wall of water (Mur d’Eau).
Other key design elements of the landscaping include rampantly flowering gardens and water.
The west side of the premises features architecturally shaped gardens (Jardins Islamiques).
The outdoor space is shaped by clipped hedges modeled on classical North African Islamic ornaments, while the gardens are topped off by lushly flowering bushes.
In a dialogue with architecture, the space is organized by these traditional Islamic hedge gardens.
Paved squares (Places Intermédiaires) open up between the individual gardens, connected with the mosque by a network of paths.
With their clear structure of sequenced spaces, these squares, furnished with trees and hedges, counterbalance the diversity of the sumptuously planted gardens.
In the site’s eastern section, the architecture of the Islamic gardens gives way to an open, smoothly molded park.
It is modeled on the basic principles of classical European landscape gardens.
The transition between these two different garden areas is marked by the “Secret Gardens.”
Integrated into the wall of the Axe Sud, large-scale stairways lead up to a terrace accommodating the Secret Gardens.
The central raised square is dominated by two rectangles of trees and a pond that is the origin of all waterworks. Behind it, there are extensive beds planted with vividly colored shrubs and grasses.
The parking level stepping down towards the terrace is bordered by retaining walls. The way from the terrace leads via a staircase towards the level of the open park.
The spacious curved garden paths with loose tree groves and interspersed wildflower gardens make a wonderful place to saunter and stay.
Blending open spaces into a strict grid of paths and squares, the design answers to the challenge to respect and fuse religious, cultural, and social uses.
These open spaces enable individuals and collectives to identify with these “holy spaces” next to the central location of the mosque.
Project: Djamaâ el-Djazaïr Great Mosquée d’Algérie
Architects: KSP Engel GmbH
General planning: KSP Engel together with KREBS+KIEFER International
Structural engineers: Krebs + Kiefer International GmbH & Co KG
Landscape architects: Rainer Schmidt Landschaftsarchitekten GmbH
General Contractor: China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC)
Client: Agence Nationale de Réalisation de Gestion de la Mosquée d’Algérie (ANARGEMA)
Photographs: KSP Engel Architekten
