A Simple Mosque

Praying Inside a Machine

2018 | Politecnico di Milano
Master Degree | Architectural Design Studio
Tutor: Pier Paolo Tamburelli
Design Team: Houman Riazi | Cristian Lera | Riccardo Salmoni

2018 | Politecnico di Milano
Master Degree | Architectural Design Studio
Tutor: Pier Paolo Tamburelli
Design Team: Houman Riazi | Cristian Lera | Riccardo Salmoni

Designing a space where Muslims can pray, gather, and study their religion has been controversial topic to follow in recent years for Milan. To push this topic even further, a unique site is chosen in Milan under the train tracks between Stazione Centrale and Memoriale Shoah.

Centrale Station, an Exploded Machine

Because of the characteristic of the site, the mosque needs to be put inside the old warehouse of the existing train station. Accordingly, the mosque can be seen as an object, put it better, as a machine (mosque), inside another machine (Stazione Centrale).

Because of the characteristic of the side the mosque needs to be put inside the old warehouse of the existing train station. Accordingly, the mosque can be seen as an object, put it better, as a machine (mosque), inside another machine (Stazione Centrale).

Accesses From Ground Floor & Underground (Metro) to Trains

In this frame, the role of the mosque is considered as an urban artifact able to create the dialogue with the city through edges of Stazione Centrale. Due to this fact, the public space in front of the main entrance is activated by using a monumental shape as the Mihrab in praying room which simultaneously can be a sign for identifying the mosque in the scale of surrounded neighborhood and a replacement for Minaret, as a strong billboard in the urban scene.

Blending the mosque with its urban context, gives more characteristic to the project as a part of the whole, being recognizable but barely visible. This intention is rooted in the controversial discussion of building a mosque for muslims as the minority in a social context of Christian-based city like Milan.

The entrance to the Mosque consists of a 50-meter passage, where it cleats the users’ mind. Within this journey thoughts and noise will be filtered. The corridor is set to reach the praying room as the main space. Once the filtration occurs, social activities happen inside the mosque. A unique space is given to the community, a place where kids can play, and people can gather. The community hall is the vestibule and the gate to the prayer room, library and auditorium. In fact, the community hall, as the core of the entire project, ties up the mosque; an architecture that creates public pockets, and most importantly generates the continuation of the city.

1   Entrance
2   Commuinity Hall
3 Administration
4 Library
5 Ablution - Men
6 Ablution - Women
7 Praying Room
8 Shoe Racks
9 Mihrab
10 Minbar
11  Classroom / Conference Hall
12  Storage
13  Technical Room

The issue of giving a direction for religious rituals, practices and actions became crucial. Consequently, specific directions were defined from point to point with an order to access different areas. This importance has been achieved by using different types of ceilings according to the function. Finally, to counteract the site’s ventilation limitations, the design strategy is focused in bringing in the air flow through ducts which are visible to redirect and distribute air through the entire building. The golden pipes become sacred, not only enhancing the importance of the air flow, but also to provide a wayfinding principle for navigation within the mosque more efficiently.