Design Criteria for Mosques and Islamic Centers

Abstract

In an area where only a handful of books exist, Design Criteria for Mosquesis a welcome addition. A follow up of sorts to Kahera’s Deconstructing theAmerican Mosque (2002), it was hoped that this text would present new material and a fresh analysis in addition to serving as a guide for design. Thefive-chapter book covers mosques built in North America and Europe fromthe early 1920s onwards and incorporates many images and architecturaldrawings, including many from the author’s design office. Several overallissues related to inconsistency, however, undermine its potential. The greatestone is that of voice, a common enough problem when a book is writtenby multiple authors – the text fluctuates between didactic and spare guide listsfor planning and building a mosque to a philosophical discourse on the meaningof each issue related to designing contemporary mosques. The imagesand drawings could have mediated between the two polarized voices. The useof images, if explained in the text or even in subtitles, could have faciliatedthe discourse and related the ideas to the guideline lists.Yet this is not the case, for the images and drawings (of inconsistentquality and often with illegible dimensions) are included in the text’s bodybut seldom referenced in the text. The captions are also non-explanatory,thereby leaving the reader to guess at their relevance to the discourse andthe lists ...