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1 – 10 of 435Compared with its status in Islamic history, the mosque today has become a distinctive phenomenon, perceived as an identity vessel of contemporary Islamic architecture that…
Abstract
Purpose
Compared with its status in Islamic history, the mosque today has become a distinctive phenomenon, perceived as an identity vessel of contemporary Islamic architecture that conveys sacred metaphysical meanings. Since the advent of modernity Muslim societies has become increasingly secularized; the relationships of the sacred–secular and the divine-based demythologized knowledge have been deformed. The mosque was glossed over as the sole contemporary sacred edifice that bears metaphysical/Islamic connotations with cultural continuity. Its architecture, meanings and function have gone through a process of metamorphosis, particularly the state mosques. The contemporary mosque as such is facing a “semiological deterioration.” State mosques today are symbolic statements and communicative messages of their rulers’ power and national sovereignty, with a subsidiary role for worship, i.e., the sacred has turned into a secular power metaphor. This led to a state semantic confusion accompanied by a loss in the deeply rooted collective cultural codes of the sacred. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the metamorphosis of the semiological connotation of the contemporary mosque, with a special focus on grand state mosques, and its effects on the architecture of the contemporary mosque.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is theoretical research (no case studies included).
Findings
The metamorphosis that the contemporary mosque is experiencing today as a religious edifice with symbolic connotations and architectural iconism is but an effect of the changes that occurred in the concept of the scared and its relationship to the secular in contemporary Muslim communities, as a result of modernity. Such conceptual changes led to altering the deeply rooted cultural codes to be replaced by new intentional codes, used today as vehicles of communication in mosque architecture, especially in grand state mosques. Contemporary state mosques with its new symbolism and semantic meanings have contributed to redefining the concept of the contemporary mosque in general.
Originality/value
Mosque architecture today receives a significant importance. Many conferences and awards are dedicated to celebrating this phenomenon. Attempts to define the criteria and style of the contemporary mosque architecture are mounting. However, rarely there are studies that defy such attempts in a critical manner. This research seeks to criticize such approaches by highlighting the essence of the transformation in mosque architecture and its relationship to the concepts of the sacred and the secular, from a semiological perspective.
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Anwar Ibrahim, Hikmat H. Ali and Wala'a Alqarra
This study aims to evaluate the effect of the installed photovoltaic (PV) systems on the aesthetic perception of the mosque’s architectural form. It also aims to develop a…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to evaluate the effect of the installed photovoltaic (PV) systems on the aesthetic perception of the mosque’s architectural form. It also aims to develop a framework for integrating PV cells with the various elements of the building type.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a mixed-method approach comprising both qualitative and quantitative techniques for data collection procedures. This includes surveys, literature review, focus groups and an experiment.
Findings
The results revealed a negative impact of the building-applied PV panels on people’s perception of the mosque’s architectural form. However, integrating the PV cells with the mosque form was perceived as more aesthetically pleasing. Certain integrating PV strategies integrated more harmoniously with certain mosque styles.
Research limitations/implications
This study is focused on limited styles of one building type. Extra research is needed to explore the differences between the different participated groups.
Originality/value
There is a lack of research that explores the ways the installed PV systems impact the users’ architectural aesthetic perception of the mosque. This study informs the design process and practice and construction industry by highlighting the opportunities PV systems, as a legitimate sustainable energy resource, offers to architects and manufacturers.
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The main aim of this study is to identify the prevailing design trends in contemporary mosques in northern cities of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It highlights the key elements…
Abstract
Purpose
The main aim of this study is to identify the prevailing design trends in contemporary mosques in northern cities of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It highlights the key elements and features to categorize mosques.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the literature review, four major stylistic expressions were identified, which formed the theoretical basis for a survey conducted to study 50 mosques in each of the four northern cities: Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah. The 200 visited mosques were investigated and analyzed based on the four categories. The comparison between these mosques enabled the author to identify the key elements and features that can be adopted in classifying mosques in relation to the four main trends.
Findings
The study reveals that there is a strong attachment with local historic styles. In total, 86% of the mosques follow traditional and historic styles. While 74% of Sharjah mosques follow historicism, 64–72% in the other cities adopt local traditional. Almost all investigated mosques follow one layout, but with diverse stylistic expressions. Some major elements are common among all mosques, while other minor elements are found in all congregational mosques. The study identified key indicators that can be used to help classifying mosques in other cities and countries.
Originality/value
This is the first study to categorize mosques in the UAE. There are few studies on mosques in Sharjah and Ajman, focusing on typology and sustainability, with less emphasis on styles. The results of this study can be considered by architects as well as by authorities. It can also be used as a reference for other studies.
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Agung Sedayu, Achmad Gat Gautama, Sukmayati Rahmah and Arief Rakhman Setiono
This study assesses the level of user importance to the building components of the Great Mosque of Mataram Kotagede Yogyakarta. The building components are the excellence and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study assesses the level of user importance to the building components of the Great Mosque of Mataram Kotagede Yogyakarta. The building components are the excellence and reliability of the mosque as a cultural and religious heritage in Indonesia.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses the qualitative and quantitative method. The qualitative method was conducted with contextual and conceptual studies on the comparative history of the Great Mosque of Mataram Kotagede. The quantitative method collected respondent perceptions using questionnaire.
Findings
The results generate ten building components that the highest important component is the aesthetics appearance of the building, while the least important component is the tomb area. Other components consist of the ornaments and building elements, outdoor circulation, indoor circulation, landscapes and parks, the wall surrounding the mosque and its area, mosque furniture, ablution facilities and lavatories, and access from the mosque area to surrounding areas.
Originality/value
The conservation maintains the sustainability of the physical and non-physical aspects of the mosque building. The physical aspects include aesthetics and reliability of building, while the non-physical aspects consist of historical values, heritage, symbols, socio-culture, local wisdom and religious tolerance.
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Mohammed M. Alnaim and Emad Noaime
The general concept of public space in Saudi Arabia is relatively recent; it is the result of an attempt to modernize several conservative traditions and norms, as well as the…
Abstract
Purpose
The general concept of public space in Saudi Arabia is relatively recent; it is the result of an attempt to modernize several conservative traditions and norms, as well as the ambitious vision of 2030, which reprioritized Saudi cities' public spaces by implementing a quality-of-life improvement program. This study aims to investigate the relationship between mosque location and surrounding urban context as a significant urban design issue in order to comprehend the potential for transforming such an element into a multifunctional public space destination in a dense urban fabric.
Design/methodology/approach
The study's objectives are divided into two areas: a spatial configuration analysis to examine the urban context and an urban analysis of the mosque site with a study area boundary of a 400-m buffer zone. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies were utilized; in addition, a user feedback survey was conducted in which several key insights were compiled, such as the importance of safety urban element factors, aesthetic elements and green areas in the built environment in making mosques places that are active public spaces.
Findings
The study’s main finding encourages governmental institutions to change their mindset from “open space around the mosque” to “the mosque as an element within public space,” which will have a significant impact on how the authors approach, improve and redevelop existing mosque locations. Several concepts were presented that should be reconsidered and redeveloped in order to align with the most recent sustainable urban design tools; the mosque to be overlooked as a community gathering place rather than just a place for religious rituals.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited to sacred mosque sites primarily found in Islamic countries; it focuses on Saudi Arabian urban and planning practices in relation to sociocultural norms. The authors believe that increasing the number of study samples or broadening the scope of the study to include other Saudi regions or other Middle Eastern countries could yield new findings and insights.
Originality/value
The study offers a conceptual design model based on survey results and qualitative analysis and recommending strategies that planners, designers and policymakers can use to design successful mosque places and pedestrian-oriented developments.
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Semiha İsmailoglu and Serkan Sipahi
Valuable historical monuments have important potential in the context of cultural tourism in cities. In addition, for the protection of these structures, in terms of ensuring…
Abstract
Purpose
Valuable historical monuments have important potential in the context of cultural tourism in cities. In addition, for the protection of these structures, in terms of ensuring social and cultural sustainability, it is also important to transfer these values to future generations.
Design/methodology/approach
The social and cultural sustainability of Erzurum Great Mosque is investigated by viewing the social and cultural sustainability of the mosque through the factors created by Chan and Lee and the criteria created by Stubbs.
Findings
As a result, the social and cultural sustainability of Erzurum Great Mosque is revealed, allowing us to propose what should be done to transfer the values of this structure, which has historical and cultural significance, and the culture it represents to future generations.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature as to evaluate a historical building, in terms of social–cultural sustainability.
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Funda Kurak Açıcı and Şebnem Ertaş
Since the first periods of humanity, the reflections of emerging cultures have created the living texture and architecture. The continuing accumulations from older periods…
Abstract
Since the first periods of humanity, the reflections of emerging cultures have created the living texture and architecture. The continuing accumulations from older periods transfer a history by layering at certain environments. While these environments which appear as the evidence of development and advancement present the artifacts of previous generations; they create a common language by creating a link between past, today and present. The necessity for protection and transfer of architecture which is the physical reflection of this accumulation, history and culture continuing through ages to the future generations is a clear fact. Preventing the disappearance of historical buildings which show the difference of a geography, country or city from others and create its identity is an important issue for sustainable architecture. When sustainability unites with history and tourism, it can achieve the protection, development and transfer of natural and cultural resources from one generation to the other. For this reason, in the scope of this study, Camii Cedid/St Eugenios Church (Yeni Cuma Mosque) transformed into a mosque after the conquest of the city of Trabzon, which has an important historical texture within its geography, will be examined in terms of the sustainable development it created in the region and the changes it went through
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Selma Harrington, Branka Dimitrijevic and Ashraf M. Salama
The purpose of this paper is to focus on Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, giving a general overview of its urban context through five historical periods, as part…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, giving a general overview of its urban context through five historical periods, as part of a research study on its modernist architectural heritage.
Design/methodology/approach
Designed to mimic the theatrical process which unfolds through acts and intervals, the paper combines literary, architectural, journalistic and historical sources, to sketch the key periods which characterise the city’s urban morphology.
Findings
The sequence of acts and intervals points to the dramatic historic inter-change of continuities and ruptures, in which the ruptures have often been less studied and understood. This explains the frequent conceptualising of Sarajevo through East–West binary, which synthesises it as a provincial capital from Ottoman and later Habsburg rule, a regional centre within two Yugoslav states and a capital city of a young state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This highlights the need to study the ruptures as clues to the flow of continuities, in which the care and after care for built environment provide a field of evidence and possibilities for diverse perspectives of examination.
Research limitations/implications
Corroborated by secondary sources, the paper examines the accounts of urban heritage destruction in the 1990s war, as recorded by a writer, an architect and a journalist, and outlines a pattern of unbroken inter-relations between urban and architectural space (tangible) and sense and identity of place (intangible).
Practical implications
This discourse is relevant to the current situation where the city of Sarajevo expands again, in the complexity of a post-conflict society.
Social implications
Challenged by the political divisions and the laissez-faire economy, the public mood and interest is under-represented and has many conflicting voices.
Originality/value
Inspired by Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities and the accounts from the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s, this conceptual paper contributes to the formulation of a cross-disciplinary discursive prism through which the fragments of the city and its periods come together or apart, adding, subtracting and changing layers of meaning of the physical space.
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The paper aims to describe the positive and negative effects of night lights in historical sites, as well as the most salient challenges faced by the visitors of these sites and…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to describe the positive and negative effects of night lights in historical sites, as well as the most salient challenges faced by the visitors of these sites and determine ways to address them. The study aims to suggest several light-and-shadow approaches and designs to enhance the experience of visiting historical sites.
Design/methodology/approach
This study identifies problems of nightlife in historical sites with an online international questionnaire to determine the preferences and difficulties faced by visitors of historical sites during day and night. After that Egypt was determined as a sample case of a developing country; its archaeological sites need to be improved. The main problems of historical Egyptian sites were investigated and approaches in developing historical sites with interactive lighting design were presented after an online questionnaire to the Egyptian society.
Findings
The paper shows that archaeological sites need some development, especially in their technological and lighting aspects, to overcome visitors’ low night-time interest in archaeological sites. Research has found certain limitations in the effects of constructing artificial illumination. The study provides modern sustainable solution for some light challenges in historical sites with approaches and solutions to solve it.
Research limitations/implications
The results of that research could be applied in developing countries, but with larger specific studies to the historical urban locations according to the politics of the country.
Practical implications
The paper includes sustainable approaches in developing historical sites with technological lighting design required to enhance historical sites at night-time and make visits more interactive and interesting.
Originality/value
This paper presents an identified need of historical sites visitors’ to study applying modern approaches in enhancing urban historical sites.
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