Baiturahim Mosque was  designed by the architectural firm Urbane Indonesia. The initial design for the construction of this mosque was to create a modern mosque that does not have a dome like most mosques in Indonesia. Baitul Maal Muamalat as Urbane Indonesia’s client initially rejected the modern design proposal but they liked the idea of ​​using used bricks. Urbane Indonesia then proposed an alternative design in the form of using a traditional Javanese stacked roof as a replacement for a modern roof.
The concept of the Baiturahim Mosque building is a play of shadows by creating many small openings in the walls and roof of the mosque. The mosque’s openings are made using brick arrangements that form the calligraphy of the word Allah. The openings allow plenty of light and air to freely enter the mosque. The location of the mosque at the foot of the mountain makes the average temperature inside 16-17 degrees Celsius. Therefore, to keep the temperature from getting colder, the openings in the mosque are covered using glass.
The dominant materials of the Baiturahim Mosque are volcanic ash bricks and local stone for the floor. The building structure is reinforced using a concrete frame as a form of anticipation because the location of the mosque is in a disaster-prone area. The interior of the mosque is even more beautiful when sunlight sweeps through the mosque and enters through the brick composition, creating unexpected shadows.
This four-story mosque with a building area of ​​250 m2 was completed in October 2011 and is now used not only as a place of worship but also as a centre for Islamic education for children.

The simple layout of the mosque consists of a main prayer hall surrounded by a verandah, around which are the ablution chambers, toilets and a staircase to the mezzanine level and the tower. It is intended that the mosque should not only to be a place for prayers but also a community centre for children and a watchtower for the village.

The overall form of the mosque is a striking contrast to the
surrounding buildings. The soaring tower appears to dominate the landscape of dusty roads and the greyish roof tiles of villagers’ houses. Ridwan Kamil developed
the design by emphasising  the composition of small openings, formed by placing the volcanic ash bricks at different angles over the façades. With the main entrance facing East, the interior is lit with a pleasant lighting effect
from the morning and evolves throughout the day.

While the architect was deliberately aiming to free up the image of a mosque away from the automatic presence of a dome, he was following the tradition of a mosque as an open, shed-like structure. Early mosques in Indonesia took their forms from vernacular traditions: timber structures supporting elaborate roof forms – often multitiered – without walls and devoid of furniture. Such structures provided good protection against both heavy rain and heat from the sun, while allowing for breezes to pass through.

Modern mosques also continue in these traditions: prayer halls are often well-shaded, well-ventilated and spacious. As a result, mosques often provide pleasant spaces for social gatherings or simply as places to sit on the floor or take a nap during the hot early afternoons. This quality appears even
in the grandest mosque in Indonesia, the Istiqlal, designed by F. Silaban in the 1950s and completed in the late 1970s. Silaban designed the Istiqlal as an enormous shed supported by rows of tall monumental columns clad with layers of marble. Despite the monumental formality expressed by the architecture’s scale and proportion, the shaded verandas of the design enables many informal activities to take place around it. Such an arrangement is also apparent further afield in many other mosques found in tropical climates, such as those of the Mughal Dynasty in northern India, where summers are unforgivingly hot.

As the Baiturahim Mosque is also located in a hot humid region, the openings were also meant to allow breezes to penetrate the interior. However, as it is located high on the mountainside, the surrounding temperature can drop to as low as 16°C which causes the interior to become unpleasantly cold because of the chill winds coming down from the mountain. Additionally, the residual volcanic ash in the area and the growth of the volcanic sand mining industry have begun to cause heavy pollution in the interior. As the result, the openings have been sealed with glass.

The finished building is less elaborate than the original design – the tower (minaret) in particular is much simpler than was planned – and aside from the addition of the glass, a stretch
of awning roof has also been added by local residents to protect the veranda from splattering rain. But while the original design, developed from a set of preconceived ideas proposed by the architect to the funding sponsor, has since
been adapted to the climatic context and specific needs of its users, the overall aesthetic quality – of strong graphic simplicity – has not been compromised.