New Preston Mosque: Innovative Architecture for a New Age of Islam

Designing a New Age of Islam in Preston: A Journey of Architectural Innovation

Designing a place of worship is a monumental undertaking for any architect, regardless of the faith. For the AIDIA STUDIO team, creating a new mosque in Preston has been a journey into the history of humanity, religion, and the rise of Islam. But beyond the fascination with mosque architecture, the team sees an opportunity to contribute to a new age of inclusiveness, tolerance, and dignity. They believe that contemporary architecture can drive this effort, materializing ideals into innovative physical spaces.

The Rite of Ascending: Placing the Mosque at the Highest Point

The site of the new mosque in Preston presented a unique opportunity for the architects to cultivate a symbolic gesture of ascendance. By placing the mosque at the highest point on the site, the journey through the complex starts in the landscape, continues through the main access, cloak room and ablution, and culminates in the prayer room. The ceremonial hall is the most guarded space of the complex, shielded away from the cars.

Everything in Alignment: Orientating the Mosque towards Mecca

Embracing the requirement to orientate the mosque towards Mecca, the architects extended this axis across the site into a design grid where all elements, architectural, structural and landscape are aligned in a holistic manner. This 4.8m grid provides a suitable framework for laying out the car parking and the pillars supporting the mosque’s vaults.

A Fractal System of Pointed-Arch Vaults: Rescuing the Quintessential Archetype of Islamic Architecture

The architects devised a vault system of fractals which negotiate, subdivide and adapt to specific programmatic requirements. These vaults could be constructed out of reinforced ground natural stone or could also be casted in glass fibre reinforced concrete (GRC). By being a modular system, they would be able to be manufactured in series locally or regionally. The result is a stunning display of the quintessential archetype of Islamic Architecture: the pointed arch. The pointed arch is structurally much more efficient than the rounded arch, and when turned into a vault it is able to span large distances clearing the floorplan from columns and other heavy load bearing elements.

In conclusion, the AIDIA STUDIO team's design for the New Preston Mosque is a stunning display of innovation, beauty, and functionality. From the playful array of shifting slates in the parking area to the poetic moment of the ablution rooms, the architects have succeeded in creating an intuitive, sequential flow that materializes the ritual into a significant ceremonial experience. The mashrabiya cassettes, intended to be casted bronze, close the vaults along the NW-SE axis creating a kinetic play of lights and shadows across all three levels of the mosque. The minaret, at 32m of height, will be a distinctive element and a landmark for Preston, diffusing the call to prayer and working as an observation point of the city.

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