Dubai: Residents will have a new Grand Mosque in the heart of Dubai’s financial district, which is scheduled to open in 2019.
According to organisers, it will be located at Gate Avenue at Dubai Financial Centre (DIFC) will be known as the DIFC Grand Mosque.
With a capacity of over 500 worshippers, the mosque serves all five daily prayer times, Friday and Ramadan prayers, and is accessible 24 hours from street level through lifts and escalators.
Arif Amiri, Chief Executive Officer of DIFC Authority, said: “The DIFC masterplan 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.”
The 14,500 square feet DIFC Grand Mosque is designed as a simple cube within a cube, reflecting the iconic Gate Building of DIFC. While the exterior is minimal, the interior tends to be more elaborate as it introduces an expansive main chandelier that is inspired by the traditional Muqarnas.
The outer cubist form uses a hanging screen that acts as a veil to provide shade and privacy to certain areas and opens at 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 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 mostly open around the main prayer hall and becomes more solid around the services areas.
The screen slopes also 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.
