Pattern and Form Language as Constituents of the Mosque Architecture

Abstract

Mosques play an important role in Islam and Muslims life. The design of new mosques poses considerable challenges to contemporary architects, who are driven to honor the past while leaving room for continuing evolution and creativity. Understanding the mosque as a container and facilitator of multiple religious and civic activities entails the attentive design of every detail, every sequence of space, every material, and every governing geometric form and spatial organization that are adaptive to the variety of secular and social functions they support. Building on Christopher Alexander and Nikos Salingaros scientific knowledge and practical insights into architectural theory on “form language” and “pattern language” and their contribution to the notion of adaptive design. This research aims to adapt their theory to mosque architecture in an attempt to discern elements that dominate and guide mosque design. Furthermore, it highlights the reasons behind non-adaptive design of many contemporary mosque designs which are being ignored which resulted in a disconnection between the building and the transcendental purpose it serves for the society. Accordingly, this paper will formulate an adaptive design method that links the physical human use (the form language) to the human sensibilities (the pattern language) to re-impose the spiritual experiences of the mosque as a place for prayer and the multi-dimensional roles they play including educational, civic, ceremonial, celebratory, and social functions. The methodology used throughout the paper relies on analyzing the notion of pattern and form language in an attempt to identify a set of evolved elements in mosque architecture that have been noticed as essential to the primary secular function of the mosque as well as to the other complementary purposes. The paper employs a case study analysis of contemporary mosques including King Fahad and King Saud Mosques in Jeddah along with KAPSARC Mosque in Riyadh to examine the elements of form and the patterns they create. The expected result is to define specific principles in mosque architecture that formulate a true combination between expressive geometric forms and human sensibilities and to generate guidelines for adaptive design in contemporary mosques.