Dubai: The new state-of-the-art mosque coming up at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is on track for its opening in 2019 and has been named as ‘DIFC Grand Mosque’.
With a capacity of over 500 worshippers, the DIFC Grand Mosque is situated at Gate Avenue, the new premium urban retail, leisure and cultural development at the heart of DIFC.
Arif Amiri, CEO of DIFC Authority, said the Grand Mosque is an important addition to the DIFC’s interconnected ecosystem.
“The DIFC master plan continues to introduce state-of-the-art, urban architecture that is designed to enrich the experience of our growing community of professionals, residents and visitors alike,” Amiri said, adding the mosque will “bring a new dimension to the attractive infrastructure we have in place”.
Spanning 14,500 square feet, the DIFC Grand Mosque offers a modern, “non-conformist facility with references to tradition”.
The building form is a simple cube within a cube, reflecting the iconic Gate Building of DIFC.
The exterior has minimalistic design while the interior tends to be more elaborate with an expansive main chandelier that is inspired by the traditional Muqarnas (a form of ornamented vaulting in Islamic architecture). These are the three-dimensional version of the more common two dimensional Islamic geometric design.
The outer cubist form uses a hanging mashrabiya screen (highly decorative oriel windows) that acts as a veil to provide shade and privacy to certain areas and opens in the public areas.
The screen is lifted to allow the intricate detail of the interior to be visible to the visitors of the area.
The hanging mashrabiya screen around the mosque uses a geometric Islamic pattern that creates openings of different sizes and intensities depending on the function of the space behind the screen. The screen is most open around the main prayer hall and becomes more solid around the services areas.
The screen slopes up at the corner facing the main landscape area as to reveal the interior to the public. However, the privacy around this corner is maintained using a reflective pool around the two sloping sides of the screen.
The DIFC Grand Mosque will serve all five daily prayer times, Friday and Ramadan prayers, and will be accessible 24 hours from street level through lifts and escalators.
Details
WHAT: DIFC Grand Mosque
WHERE: Gate Avenue, DIFC
WHEN: Set to open in 2019
CAPACITY: 500 worshippers
