Excerpt: Noor-E-Madina Mosque, designed by Prachya, features a contemporary interpretation that draws inspiration from Mughal Islamic architecture. The mosque is situated on a large entry plaza that is monumentalized by five arched walls that metaphorically represent the five pillars of Islam. It features a double-height space with white façades featuring jali patterns that allow ample light and dramatic shadow.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] White façades with jali pattern allow ample light and dramatic shadow inside the double height space of Noor- E-Madina mosque, which is located at Shibchar upazila of Madaripur district. The mosque stands on a grand entry plaza, with five arched walls, monumentalizing the entry inspired from Mughal Islamic architecture. These five walls conceptualize the five pillars of Islam metaphorically.
As a vital part of Islamic architecture, jali screening has been used in the façades as the means of shading, while enough ventilation with operative windows has made those facades breathable. The shapes used here are not abstract in pattern rather in known form so that people can relate themselves with the sense of belongingness. Two forms are chosen here, the octagon and the cross: ‘the shapes of the Sufi symbols for the divine breath, the octagon for breathing out, the cross for breathing in; the two fit together as a tessellation, an example of an Islamic geometric pattern’. These jalis are handcrafted by the masons in a concrete cast process, as a tribute to our age old traditional practice followed by history.
The entry and exit are through north and south respectively, where cross ventilation is ensured with extended doors and windows. East and west are preserved with thick walls to avoid the heat as well as to delineate the qibla with a jali screen arched out of the solid wall. A slit opening connecting the east and west distinguishes the form from the north and south, depicting the spiritual divergence from the materialistic life.
A double height space is perceived just after the entry, where the Mihrab creates a sense of grandness due to the double height wall. A mezzanine floor serves as the separate prayer space for women. A single flight stair connecting the mezzanine floor flanks beside an arched jali wall, creating balance with the other spaces of the mosque. With the ornamental jali at the white divine majestic walls, carved out from the grand plaza, the mosque monumentalizes itself from the surrounding, as well as creates harmony to the village context and green landscape around.
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