Mosque for Many Cultures

The design of the Assyafaah mosque is imbued with this sense of complexity, and yet at the same time, also embodies the harmony that has, by calm necessity, emerged from this cultural and spiritual melange. It is a constant interplay between straight and curved lines, modern and classical architecture, hard and soft surfaces, closed and open boundaries.

Tan Kok Hiang, principal partner of Forum Architects and the designer of the mosque, framed his design within this culturally diverse context. "We took the view that the architecture should provide as few barriers as possible to the community at large," he says. "A ‘Malay' design would not make a Chinese convert feel at home. A Middle-Eastern imagery would be too alien to our culture. Its design has to sit comfortably in a multi-racial, multi-religious country. And it also had to signal to the Muslim community that it is a mosque".

Having explored the utilitarian nature of Islamic architecture - to the point of composing his research thesis on the topic as a student at the National University of Singapore - Tan was also determined to embrace a diverse range of aesthetics, as well as cultures. "I wanted art and sculpture to be a part of the goings-on in the mosque. And most of all, I wanted the mosque to touch the people who congregated there at a deep spiritual level that would transcend differences," he says.

Completed early 2007, the mosque comprises a main prayer hall, ablution areas, classrooms, administration areas, a multi-purpose hall, prayer galleries and extended prayer spaces, and a basement carpark: at full capacity it can host up to 4000 people.

The foundation motif of the design is the arabesque: an elaborate geographic pattern central to classical Islamic art and architecture, said to symbolise the infinite and divinity of creation without reference to a personified iconography. The architects have described it as "complete, infinite, clear, multi-centred and awe-inspiring" - in other words, much like the Assyafaah mosque itself.

Noting that the traditional Islamic architecture of domes, arches and minarets had little relevance to the cultural context of Singapore, Tan Kok Hiang saw the arabesque as having a symbolic affinity with Singaporean Islam, due to its connotations of integration, diversity, complexity and unity. As such, the motif is omnipresent, featuring on the walls, floor, carpets, voids, and outdoor fence and gates. It is also translated onto the aluminium and steel screens encasing the main prayer hall. The patterns created by the ‘positive' grille and ‘negative' voids in the screen are in some ways uniform, yet the intricate shadows fall at different angles depending on the position of the viewer and the time of day. Custom-designed carpets mirror the arabesque design, which along with the flooring tiles also serves to align the devout towards Mecca during prayer.

The overall design is a uniquely modern play on traditional Islamic architecture, so that even classical essential elements are stylised. Tradition requires that visitors are purified before entering to pray, and as such, the circulation through the mosque begins at the covered ablution area. In the Assyafaah mosque, the essential element of water also becomes an aesthetic feature, with two naturally lit, granite-clad reflection pools, depicting the water as a pure source of life as well as a method of cleansing.

Visitors then pass into the raised forecourt: a transition point between the outside and the introspection of the prayer space. The forecourt is set above ground level so as to enhance natural airflow and signify importance, but this also serves to create headroom in the lower levels, and gives natural light and ventilation to the basement carpark.

Beyond the forecourt, the entrance to the prayer hall is framed by 20-metre arches, cast in fairface concrete using new ply forms, v-shaped plastic grooves and steel tie-rods. The prayer hall opens to a four-storey atrium with a marble-clad wall, washed in natural light from a slit skylight. At the centre is the Mihrab - a niche which indicates the direction of Mecca. To the right of this recess is the Mimbar from which the imam addresses the congregation, with a thoroughly modern Quran rack fashioned from horizontal glass shelves with polished stainless steel vertical separators, and lit by four-storey slit skylight voids.

Modern or not, no mosque would be complete without a minaret, and Assyafaah's 33-metre structure is no exception (although it will be the last, with new laws passed in Singapore preventing any religious structure taller than 5 metres above roof level). But the structure itself is far from traditional, taking the form of a tapered 10-tier telescopic tower in steel and colourless polyurethane finish. The overlapping gap at each narrower tier not only emits a beacon-like light at night, it also allows the passage of air to reduce the lateral load, while the steel finish needs only minimal maintenance and is also a nod to the rustic nature of the minaret's Middle Eastern cousins.

Tan Kok Hiang's plan to create a place as diverse as it is devotional, as inclusive as it is pious, appears to have been achieved. The mosque's manager has said that volunteers at Assyafaah feel inspired towards progressive thinking because their atypical surroundings, and the mosque enjoys visitors of both Muslim and non-Muslim faiths. "Previously, it was very odd for a non-Muslim to enter a mosque, even in multi-racial Singapore," Tan says. "I am told that at Assyafaah, non-Muslims feel very comfortable walking in and out, of course at all times respecting the culture and practices". The mosque is indeed a message to us all, on the possibility of unified diversity. +

PREVIOUS Special purpose areas are formed within the mosque by juxtaposing textures, without unnecessarily segregating the space. 1 As in traditional Islamic architecture, the arabesque design creates a cooling breeze-wall effect, while decorating the internal surfaces with filtered light. 2 The Mihrab and Mimbar at the front of the prayer space epitomise the blend of modern and traditional design. 3 The domes of Islamic architecture are translated into a series of swooping cast-concrete archways. 4 From afar, the minaret and arabesque patterning are the stand-out features of the mosque. IMAGES courtesy of Albert Lim.