DESCRIPTION

Spirit of depth and motion in view

It is a general comment that when we enter in Kaba for the first time we feel a certain psycho physical state in which we have a feeling of being very small and helpless and find that the only greatness and whole is Allah.

I tried to find the reason for it. First there is a way we grow up in the Islamic Society, the education of Koran as well as the concept of every individual about Allah. Therefore parallel to this I tried to find its spatial reasoning.

Keeping all these things in mind I tried to generate a converging effect in the interior view of the main hall, by placing the small windows in the front wall in comparison with the side walls. The converging space of the main hall creates visual depth. To give the feeling of human motion around Kaba I placed a green coloured globe over the Mahrab which will be lit and revolved artificially during the day and night. The motion will be of the same scale as that of the humans around Kaba.

Its exterior form is of a person praying in Sijda which is transformed in the geometrical masses. The main entrance, building masses and the landscape are placed and distributed equally depicting the balance in Islamic approach. The whole architecture is placed on a strong axis which is directed towards Kaba (House of God: Sense a place where God resides and we are praying to him).

As the school emphasis is on the local, cultural and indigenous context, so I provided jehlum stone cladding on the surface as the stone is used as an indigenous material in Karachi.The material is not fancy, but it has elegance and is also very accomodative with the climatic conditions of Karachi and will enhance the Mosque's life.

The plan is the play of geometrical shapes and straight lines. Two entrances are provided to control the flow of Juma prayers. The window through the kitchen of Imam's residence is provided for security purposes. The main entrance is hatched at the corner to align it parallel to the building. One more triangular grass patch is provided at the entrance to cater to the social habits of the local people, who are used to talking and discussing on matters after Namaz outside the Mosque.

The whole mosque is the representation of modern architecture with the incorporation of the school's philosophy.



Hammad Ur - Rehman


Context: To a Muslim, a mosque is a place for worship of Allah, the one and only God, but the word "Worship" in Islam has different connatation in as much as it means, not only offering the prescribed prayers but also compliance with Allah's injunctions for living a purposeful, orderly virtuous life for one's own benefit of other human beings.

Hammad's Aproach: Hammad in his project has attempted to use a certain position of prayers to derive a form of the mosque and an experience of entry to Kaba to develop interior spaces. While he has overlooked traditional evolution of constituent forms, his effort is a refreshing search for appropriate architectural vocabulary