Green Masjid
History
Pancho Guedes created the mosque one Friday night while out to dinner with an old friend. Bey Mia wanted to build a low-cost mosque, so he asked a builder for a plan. The municipality rejected the mosque's design after he presented it to them. He was quite unhappy since he wanted to build the mosque right away because he needed surgery for a serious heart issue and he wanted to make peace with Allah first. He requested a drawing of a good, affordable mosque that he would have had a draughtsman create because he could not afford to hire one.
Urban and Architectural
While reading Bruschi's work on Bramante, Pancho Guedes was inspired by Bruschi's analysis of the proportions in the courtyard of Santa Maria della Pace. He drew a double-square plan with the mosque and courtyard in each square.
He originally intended to build the mosque as a perfect cube, but due to cost and height restrictions, he was forced to reduce it to a half-cube. The mosque's solid squared volume and the courtyard's void remained in place as a duality.
A coloured community outside of Johannesburg called Eldorado Park is where the mosque is located. It takes up three-quarters of a square with four bays on each side. The verandah in the remaining portion opens onto the courtyard. A nearly symmetrical wing on the east houses the restrooms for men and women, a women's entry hall, and the stairs to the balcony, which is surrounded by the washing room for women. A wing on the west houses the office, the entrance hall, and the men's washing room. The balcony on the first level looks out over the mosque and takes up half of the plaza.Until funds are available to construct the one he has envisioned, enclosing the courtyard and locking the back into the township's grid, the balcony is for ladies and also serves as the Koran school.
Description
The early axonometric depicts how the different features are related, although it does not include the circle wall that currently surrounds the courtyard, the mouldings around the circular windows, or the meandering colored bands. Four colors make up the color scheme. Dark green paint is used on the walls that rise to the meandering bands. Bright purple is used for the bands, windows, doors, gutters, downspouts, and roofs. Light green walls rise up from the bands.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancho_Guedes
http://artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/bldgframes.php?bldgid=16714
Details
Location
Green Masjid, Eldorado Park, Soweto, 1811, South Africa
Worshippers
250
Owners
Bey Mia
Architect Name
Year of Build
1983
Area
490
Drawings
Map
History
Pancho Guedes created the mosque one Friday night while out to dinner with an old friend. Bey Mia wanted to build a low-cost mosque, so he asked a builder for a plan. The municipality rejected the mosque's design after he presented it to them. He was quite unhappy since he wanted to build the mosque right away because he needed surgery for a serious heart issue and he wanted to make peace with Allah first. He requested a drawing of a good, affordable mosque that he would have had a draughtsman create because he could not afford to hire one.
Urban and Architectural
While reading Bruschi's work on Bramante, Pancho Guedes was inspired by Bruschi's analysis of the proportions in the courtyard of Santa Maria della Pace. He drew a double-square plan with the mosque and courtyard in each square.
He originally intended to build the mosque as a perfect cube, but due to cost and height restrictions, he was forced to reduce it to a half-cube. The mosque's solid squared volume and the courtyard's void remained in place as a duality.
A coloured community outside of Johannesburg called Eldorado Park is where the mosque is located. It takes up three-quarters of a square with four bays on each side. The verandah in the remaining portion opens onto the courtyard. A nearly symmetrical wing on the east houses the restrooms for men and women, a women's entry hall, and the stairs to the balcony, which is surrounded by the washing room for women. A wing on the west houses the office, the entrance hall, and the men's washing room. The balcony on the first level looks out over the mosque and takes up half of the plaza.Until funds are available to construct the one he has envisioned, enclosing the courtyard and locking the back into the township's grid, the balcony is for ladies and also serves as the Koran school.
Description
The early axonometric depicts how the different features are related, although it does not include the circle wall that currently surrounds the courtyard, the mouldings around the circular windows, or the meandering colored bands. Four colors make up the color scheme. Dark green paint is used on the walls that rise to the meandering bands. Bright purple is used for the bands, windows, doors, gutters, downspouts, and roofs. Light green walls rise up from the bands.