History

The first Australian mosque was built in Marree, South Australia, in 1861 – a simple yet important structure marking the arrival of the Islamic place of worship in Australia. Drawing upon the long history of mosques as part of the built fabric of Australia’s multicultural and multidenominational society, the Australian Islamic Centre has deep significance for its community. It symbolises the maturity, vibrancy and permanence of their congregation while also offering a physical and visual manifestation of a new dialect for Islamic architecture. 

Description

Murcutt has worked on the design for the Australian Islamic Centre for over 10 years, collaborating with architect Hakan Elevli of Melbourne practice Elevli Plus.

As perhaps the first truly contemporary Australian mosque, the Australian Islamic Centre in Newport, Melbourne, is an architectural and social marker of a new perception of Islam in Australia. By respectfully recalibrating historical Islamic design conventions for contemporary Australia – a country with a well-established and growing Muslim population – this project heralds a new interpretation of mosques as a future part of our suburbs.

When the building completes in late 2016, it will provide a mosque and community centre for the Islamic population of the Melbourne suburb Newport.

Murcutt's aim is to create a contemporary mosque that can provide a community space for both Muslims and non-Muslims, moving away from the traditional forms of Islamic architecture.

"I'm putting forward the idea that, we can in a society that is anti-Islam, we can produce some work that actually can bring Islam back into our community and becomes an addition to the culture

The centre of the building is crowned by rows of projecting skylights that will funnel light into the building through one glazed side.

it was to be inclusive and respectful of people of all faiths. His design for the building draws from the functional and semiotic language of traditional mosque architecture, considering fundamentals such as the orientation towards Mecca of a mihrab (niche) within a qibla wall; a large hypostyle (columned) central prayer hall; bodies of still water; provision of facilities for ablutions completed prior to prayer; and separate spaces, as required culturally, for men and women.

The building is organised as a set of interconnecting spaces arranged across two levels. A congregational hall, library, cafe, commercial kitchen, and sporting hall occupy the ground level, and the first floor, accessed via dedicated arrival stairs, provides a set of elevated spaces for women.

Murcutt’s design also deviates from time-honoured design principles in important ways: it negates the need for a high domed roof, instead offering a facade that favours transparency over enclosure, and reimagines the form of the minaret – the tower from which the call to prayer was traditionally announced – as an elevated wall demarcating an arrival courtyard. Murcutt comments on how he considered historical precedents and functional requirements when making these design decisions: 

Murcutt’s design for the Australian Islamic Centre arranges twenty-four steel columns to create three bays from east to west and three from north to south, reflecting traditional mosque geometry. A reflective water courtyard to the west and fifty-five three-metre high roof-mounted lanterns naturally illuminate the main prayer hall. Glazed in colours symbolic to Islam (yellow, green, blue and red), these lanterns face the four points of the compass, drawing triangles of coloured daylight into the building in an ever-changing pattern determined by the sun’s movement.

References

Archdaily

Dezeen