Old and new: AL_A combine tradition and modernity for Abu Dhabi mosque
Designs for Abu Dhabi's latest grand religious space have just been revealed by AL_A. The London based architecture practice, headed by Amanda Levete with directors Ho-Yin Ng, Alice Dietsch and Maximiliano Arrocet, has just won the competition for the commission to design a new mosque.
Located in the World Trade Centre complex – which is being designed by Foster + Partners to include from offices, to residences, a mall, a souk and a hotel – for Aldar Properties, one of the region's largest developers, this new project will span an impressive 2,000 sq m. This will include the mosque structure, as well as plenty of outside space in the form of an informal park.
The park will also act as 'an escape from the immediate context of the vertiginous steel and glass of the World Trade Center and provide a focal point of worship for its inhabitants'. For this reason, the space was not seen as a single building, but was conceived as a symbolic 'pathway' to serenity. The trees are aligned with the mosque structure's columns, leading people inside – the direction then shifts towards Mecca.
The project is headed by Ng, who explains: 'The Mosque is envisaged as a piece of the city, one that reflects the journey from the temporal to the spiritual. Set within a park, the mosque and the garden become one, with the trees and the columns forming an informal vertical landscape and allowing Friday prayers to spill outside.'
Inside, a permeable roof structure will allow light to flow into the prayer hall, creating a dramatic visual effect for sunlight and shadows.
The sculptural and peaceful space incorporates the Islamic architectural tradition for arches, which will be made using modern techniques and materials – AL_A are known for their experimentation with both – bridging the old and the new within a single design.
INFORMATION
For more information visit the AL_A website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
David Lynch presents 'A Thinking Room' at the Salone del Mobile
Here's a first look at the David Lynch Salone del Mobile 2024 installation, a cinematic experience within the fair curated by Antonio Monda
By Laura May Todd Published
-
Riva El-Iseo is the legendary boat builder’s first fully-electric motor yacht
The Riva El-Iseo electric speedboat blends classic Italian lines with a silent, powerful and zero-emission powertrain
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Technogym Home Bench 40 ways: designers interpret the home exercise classic
Technogym marks its 40 anniversary with 40 special editions of its Home Bench created in collaboration with international creatives
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Giovanni Michelucci’s dramatic concrete church in the Italian Dolomites
Giovanni Michelucci’s concrete Church of Santa Maria Immacolata in the Italian Dolomites is a reverently uplifting memorial to the victims of a local disaster
By Jonathan Glancey Published
-
The modernist First Christian Church celebrates its iconic tower’s restoration in Columbus
The modernist First Christian Church in Columbus, Indiana, designed by Eliel and Eero Saarinen, has completed extensive restoration works on its iconic tower
By Audrey Henderson Published
-
'Cities are not static': the Norman Foster Institute launches
The Norman Foster Institute launches in Madrid, celebrating cities as our 'greatest invention', and working to help fix them
By Nick Compton Published
-
CAZA’s Santuario de La Salle aims to ‘connect people to place and heritage’
CAZA’s Santuario de La Salle church pushes the boundaries of traditional religious design at the De La Salle University campus in the Philippines’ Biñan City
By Nana Ama Owusu-Ansah Published
-
Apple store at Battersea Power Station prioritises sustainability and ‘universal design’
We get a first peek inside Foster + Partner’s Apple store at Battersea Power Station in London, a space pioneering sustainability and ‘universal design’ principles
By Nick Compton Published
-
Discover Battersea Roof Gardens, Battersea Power Station’s latest residential development
Battersea Roof Gardens opens at Battersea Power Station, offering additions such as Sky Lounge and vast gym
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Essential Homes Research Project launches first shelter for displaced communities
The Norman Foster Foundation and Swiss building materials giant Holcim launch the Essential Homes Research Project’s first design – a concrete cabin shelter. Nick Compton met with Norman Foster to find out more
By Nick Compton Published
-
Ultimate Norman Foster: into the mind of the architect at Centre Pompidou
Norman Foster exhibition opens at Centre Pompidou in Paris, celebrating the renowned British architect's ground breaking and extensive body of work, while looking into the future
By Shawn Adams Published