Central Mosque

Prishtina

2013

Our design for the Central Mosque of Prishtina shows the transformation of traditional typologies with the help of contemporary parametric software.

Central Mosque Prishtina, Kosovo
Contexts

The competition for the new central mosque in Pristina invited proposals for a building that would be a landmark not only for the immediate neighbourhood, but more importantly for the city of Pristina and the entire Muslim community in Kosovo.

With the required mix of uses, the mosque will be both a major religious centre and an important cultural and commercial facility for its neighbourhood, the city and the region as a whole. Therefore, the new central mosque must be both contextual and iconic at all scales.
Therefore we have based our design for the Central Mosque on two cornerstones: on the one side we have done careful analyses of, local, Ottoman and Arab mosque-typologies and secondly we have applied parametric tools to hybridize those typological influences towards a new whole.

CMPR, Qibla
CMPR, Typology

Typology

CMPR, Siteplan

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Parametric hybridization

The floor space is organised in a pentagonal shape that has several advantages: it allows for maximum internal prayer space, a clearly expressed qibla wall and – on the opposite side – two large porticoes that separate the men’s and women’s entrances in a natural way. The lateral extensions of the central pentagon offer spacious portico wings that invite and accommodate visitors. These locally inspired porticoes play an important role in the articulation of the exterior courtyards – which in turn cite typical mosque courtyards.

CMPR, Elevation

The Prayer Hall

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A blend of tradition and modernity

For the architectural concept of the prayer hall, we have developed a system of composite vaults that draw their inspiration from the heritage of the so-called “Muqarnas” vaults. The result is a blend of the local portico type with a hypostyle transition into the large dripstone vault of the prayer hall itself. It is a seemingly complex geometric, structural and spatial system that is in fact strictly developed from comparatively simple, interlocking, evolving surfaces.

Date

2013

Place

Prishtina, Kosovo

Size

~30.000 m²

Client

The Islamic Community of Republic of Kosovo

Team

Holger Hoffmann

Hans-Peter Nünning

Hajdin Dragusha

Eva Hagen

Status

3. Prize, open competition entry

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