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_Green Masjid (Mosque for Bey Mia)

Information

While reading Bruschi’s work on Bramante, the architect of the mosque, 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.

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 coloured bands. Four colours make up the colour 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://www.guedes.info/

http://artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/bldgframes.php?bldgid=16714

 

 

Mosque Data

Architect

Pancho Guedes

Type

Jumaa

Country

South Africa

Owner/Founder

Bey Mia

Year

1983

Area

490 m2

Interactive Map

Mosque Data

Architect

Pancho Guedes

Type

Jumaa

Country

South Africa

Owner/
Founder

Bey Mia

Year

1983

Area

490 m2

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