Design Criteria for Mosques and Islamic Centers

The design principles necessary to create functional and dynamic contemporary mosques can be hard to grasp for those unfamiliar with the Islamic faith. 'Design Criteria for Mosques and Islamic Centers' provides an easy-to-use and practical set of guidelines for mosque design, illustrated with 300 line drawings. Case studies of urban mosques in New York, Washington, Boston, and London and Birmingham amongst others, demonstrate how mosques and Islamic centers have evolved to integrate into the urban scenario. The book also compares tenets from Western and Eastern religious and secular philosophies and discusses their relation to architectural creation, place-making, meaning, and identity. The book shows how mosques fulfill multiple faith-based and social roles through their design; it provides a wide-ranging, basic understanding of Islamic liturgical conventions and secular functions to enable architects, designers, and community advocates to work with confidence.