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Ecological Design Approaches in Mosque Architecture
Article in International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research · December 2019
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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 10, Issue 12, December-2019
ISSN 2229-5518 1374
Ecological Design Approaches in Mosque
Architecture
H. Derya Arslan
Abstract—Ecological buiding design has been on the agenda for the last two decades with the rapid increase of industrialization and the
subsequent environmental pollution. Today, the decrease in energy resources and the orientation towards renewable energy sources have
become an important parameter for ecological design. Ecological building design, especially in developed countries, especially schools,
housing, museums, etc. as well as quite different types of structures. However, ecological searches continue in different building types.
One of the most recent of these is the Cambridge Central Mosque, which was opened in the UK in 2019 with its eco-friendly slogan.
Ecological design factors were used in the design and manufacturing elements of this mosque. However, although this mosque was
introduced as the first eco-friendly mosque in the world, there are many examples of mosques built on the earth as environmentally friendly
and built centuries ago. In this study, Cambridge Central Mosque is examined and a compilation of environmentally friendly mosques is
explained and how new this mosque is in this context is explained.
Index Terms— Ecology, Architecture, Mosque, Design.
—————————— ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION
T he rapid increase in industrialization and subsequent en-
vironmental pollution has become one of the biggest prob-
lems of the 21st century. As a result, increasing use of re-
Ecological buildings that belong to the group called sus-
tainable architecture are generally made of materials that pro-
duce their own energy, use natural and renewable energy
newable energy with increasing global warming and climate sources, contain less toxic substances or are obtained by recy-
changes has made keywords such as sustainability and ecolo- cling. The main feature of this type of building is that it harms
gy very popular. the environment less by using technological facilities. There-
With the realization of the ozone depletion in the atmos- fore, these types of structures have started to be preferred in
phere after the 1980s, the real dimension of human ecological metropolitan areas. There are also types of rural buildings
damage to nature and the world has been discussed and ecol- designed and produced as part of the ecological environment.
ogy has become a popular research topic. All implementations carried out within this framework, espe-
The fact that global warming, environmental pollution, cially in sustainable construction, are seen as important sym-
carbon dioxide emission and many subsequent problems are bols that make the society aware of sustainability.
highly related to the building sector has led to the introduction Despite the fact that the ecological buildings are so much
of many new concepts in architecture such as global warming, talked about in developed countries today, their percentage in
ecology, sustainability, renewable energy, environmental de- the total building stock is quite low. This is particularly true of
sign, smart structure, energy efficiency conservation and green these structures, which have a distinctive architectural charac-
architecture. ter, in terms of mechanical and environmental influences, ra-
The main feature of green buildings or ecological buildings ther than architectural design. Today, ecological school, eco-
is that they do not disturb the ecological balance. Although logical housing, ecological museum, etc. quite different exam-
there are so many man-made factors that disrupt the ecologi- ples of ecological structures have entered the literature. The
cal balance in nature, buildings that are designed not to dis- new one is the Cambridge Central Mosque, which was opened
rupt the ecosystem are important for awareness. The aim is to in England in 2019 with its environmentally friendly slogan.
produce structures that will benefit both nature and human Although it is introduced as the first eco-friendly mosque in
beings. Green building refers to both a structure and imple- the world, there are many examples of mosques built on earth
mentation of environmentally responsible and resource- as environmentally friendly. In this study, a compilation of
efficient processes throughout the life cycle of a building: from eco-friendly mosques was made based on the example of
planning to design, construction, operation, maintenance, ren- Cambridge Mosque in England and how new this mosque is
ovation and demolition. in this context is explained.
————————————————
Author name is H.Derya Arslan, Assoc. Prof. Dr., Architecture Depart-
ment , Necmettin Erbakan University of Konya, Turkey
e-mail:
[email protected],
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1375
2 ECOLOGICAL DESIGN important feature of the mosque building is that it is a place of
worship in accordance with Islamic geometries and architec-
Kremers (1995) [1] defines sustainable architecture as a tural tradition with the latest developments in digital manu-
phenomenon of architectural design that aims to reduce the facturing and passive sustainable technologies. In Figures 1
use of natural resources and to balance production- and 2, the main plan of the place of worship taken by Morley
consumption ratios. This concept is also defined as an ap- von Sternberg is given with the floor plan drawn by Marks
proach that needs to be considered in terms of effective use of Barfield Architects.
resources and to consider climate and topographic structure as
an input by keeping the relationship between human and na-
ture together. According to the Shaviv (1998) [2] , the aims of
sustainable architecture are;
• Sensitive to the environment,
• Minimum energy consumption,
• It has been listed as the design of the
buildings that provide healthy indoor comfort of the users,
Sustainability in the building sector was established
by the United Nations in 1987 as the most important issue to
be addressed in the field of contemporary architecture and
engineering. Starting from the 1990s, the development of sus-
tainability awareness has become increasingly important. Sha-
Fig 1. Site Plan — Cambridge Central Mosque © Marks Barfield Architects
viv (1998) listed the main objectives of sustainable architecture (www-1)
as;
efficient use of energy and resources,
reduction of wastes,
avoiding harmful substances to health and nature,
protection of healthy indoor quality,
protection of biological diversity and
flexible structure design.
When these criteria are evaluated in general, it can be stat-
ed that under the sustainable design approach, the subject
contains many dimensions that need to be addressed at differ-
ent levels, from urban scale decision-making processes to the
choice of the production of a building material.
The conceptual ideas of sustainable architecture combine
into three main criteria. These three main criteria are; land Fig 2. The Prayer Hall — Cambridge Central Mosque © Morley von Stern-
conservation, resource conservation, indoor quality. In sus- berg (www-1)
tainable architecture, the environment of the building area and
the protection of the ecosystem come to the forefront with the The Cambridge Central Mosque appears to be an ordinary
right choice of land. Resource conservation can be grouped as structure among the other buildings around it, and symbolizes
reducing the amount of non-renewable energy resources used humility as the basis of Islamic religion. For this reason, the
in the building life cycle (energy conservation), reducing the mosque does not announce its presence very high in this envi-
amount of water to be used in the building (water conserva- ronment, and welcomes the visitor gently through a series of
tion) and preferring local or recycled materials (material con- nuanced and calibrated thresholds that begin with a lively but
servation). The quality of the indoor environment consists of quiet garden on the side of the road. The structure bears a
factors such as the quality of the breathing air, the provision of sense of tectonic and geometric rhythms that are echoed ap-
thermal, visual and auditory comfort and the selection of ma- propriately within the building, with complex yet robust, tree-
terials that are harmless to health [3]. like spruce columns. It is possible to experience this feeling in
the Nine Bridges Golf Club House ’designed by Shigeru Ban
3 THE CASE OF THE ECO-MOSQUE: CAM- and Kaci architects” in South Korea, which is famous for its
BRIDGE MOSQUE IN ENGLAND wood structure. Figure 3 shows the interior image of the
building, taken by Shigeru Ban Architects. The similarity be-
The Cambridge Central Mosque that opened in 2019 was tween Figure 3 and Figure 2 is remarkable. In this respect, it is
designed by Marks Barfield Architects which is the England's felt that the load carrying system is not completely unique. For
most important architectural offices, is ‘ecological” making it this reason, the building designed by Marks Barfield Archi-
more popular. Cambridge, a global city in the heart of Eng- tects is actually overshadowed by the claim to reflect and cre-
land, has a multi-cultural space with such a mosque. The most ate a local Islamic architecture. The geometry of this building
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1376
(possibly the decisive detail of the building) is the 30 digitally out effecting negatively to the environment. For instance, em-
produced tree pillars supporting the building's impressive bodying the most original examples of mosque architecture
hulking roof structure. The original columns are fabricated by should also Turkey Seljuk Empire period, both ecologically
Swiss timber construction (by Blumer Lehmann), the structur- based we set the Ottoman Empire and both early important
al system have 145 different components and about 2700 indi- part of the mosque Republic of Turkey period today as the
vidual components. criteria are incorporating the important parameters of the de-
sign philosophy. It follows that ecological concerns are the
concerns of this period. Ecological architecture is actually the
problem of this era. Human beings are looking for solutions to
the problem created by their own hands. There is no such
problem in the traditional period.
One of the first examples in this context is the Cenne
Grand Mosque, which was built of mudbrick, an example of
ecological places of worship in the world, and one of the first
examples of wind catchers as a natural ventilation method in
Salih Tala-I Mosque in Cairo. Similar features are found in the
architecture of the Seljuk and Ottoman mosques. In the Islamic
cities, mosques have been used frequently to protect the
shade, weather protection, natural ventilation and natural pri-
Fig 3. Interior of Nine Bridges Golf Club House (www-2) vacy. Historical mosques were built with inspiration from an
ecological approach. The use of building materials to balance
Historically, it has been observed that the environment in and store the heat of the sun in the summer or the cold in the
which the mosque is built adapts to the formal, cultural and winter, or the integration of water into the design as a cooling
climatic conditions. Reflected on the brick tiles covering the method, and the production of natural methods that will max-
mosque, Cambridge "Gault" bricks complement the mosque's imize the benefit of the wind can be exemplified. Mosques are
street view. Sustainability concept is provided by using local examples of Islamic architecture to this ecological approach.
materials. The Great Mosque of Cenne, given in Figure 4, has been
The mosque is based on the premise of creating an oasis of standing since the 1300s. One of the greatest achievements of
calm and sustainability in an urban setting. Striking roof win- the Sudani-Saheli architectural style, this mosque is made of
dows mean that the mosque will be naturally illuminated mud only. There are more than 100 columns in the mosque.
throughout the year, the building is well insulated and the The Grand Mosque of Cenne is repaired by the public every
temperature will be carefully optimized by heating or cooling year on the Mud Festival. The mud collected by the children
using energy produced locally from energy efficient technolo- and young people from the river beds is carried with contain-
gies and ground source heat pumps. ers and carried to the masters who will plastering the walls.
Although the Cambridge Central Mosque is known as the The ventilation of the adobe mosque is provided by the chim-
first ecological mosque in England, the first mosque known as neys called 'Ladis' which are made of soil again.
the ecological mosque in England was built in 2003 in Man-
chester. An old birth and child welfare the mosque was re-
placed by a central mosque, which included solar panels, re-
cycled wood, recycled stone, floor heating and other energy-
saving measures.
There is a similar search for an ecological mosque in Ger-
many, where Muslims in Europe are concentrated. The Mus-
lim community in Norderstedt, Germany, started building
mosques with wind turbines in their minarets. At the end of
the 2.5 million-euro project, the mosque to be built in Norder-
stedt near Hamburg will allow the muezzin's call to worship
to reach other believers with wind energy. Fig 4. The Great Mosque of Cenne - Sudani-Saheli architectural style
(www-3)
4 DISCUSSION Salih Talâi Mosque, which is given in Figure 5, is a
historical mosque in the Egyptian capital of Cairo dating back
The ecological mosque is actually very old among Islamic to the Fatimid era. It was built by the vizier Al-Salih Talâi ibn
traditions. Simply put, all mosques built before the industrial Ruzzik in 1160 during the Fatimid Caliph al-Fa'iz period. It is
revolution is actually ecological. The Islamic religion (and one of the two mosques built by the viziers of the Fatimids
naturally the same as in other places of religion) says that all period. It was destroyed in 1303 earthquake and re-built.
buildings should be environmentally friendly structures with-
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1377
Fig 5. Salih Talâi Mosque (www-4)
5 CONLUSION AND FINAL REMARKS
Cambridge Grand Mosque and other similar examples
considered in this study are actually negligible structures that
remain at very innocent levels in terms of polluting the envi-
ronment, wasting resources and leaving a carbon footprint.
The world is threatened by industrial facilities, unmanaged
waste, life-threatening chemicals, endless constructions and
irreversible wastes, regulations that upset biological balance.
From this point of view, only a few mosques are in total in a
proportion that does not have any meaning. However, the
ecological mosque in fact carries a symbolic mission and is
worth considering in terms of being an example. Because, as in
all religions, it is known that waste is also prohibited in Islam.
They do not waste energy in mosques. It is also a positive
approach to think about the architecture of the Cambridge
Mosque on an ecological level, but it is a reminder that this
approach is not new in traditional Islamic architecture, but it is
a reminder to Muslims living in England with today's tech-
niques.
REFERENCES
[1] Shaviv E., 1998, "The Integration of Passive Cooling, Heating and Daylighting
in the Design of an Intelligent Energy Conscious Building Design,” Eu-
roSun98- Proceedings of the Second ISES-Europe Solar Congress, Portoroz,
Slovenia.
[2] Kremers, J., 1995, Defining Sustainable Architecture.
[3] Tuglu H.U., (2005), Sustainable Buildings and materials with respect of Ecolo-
gy, Msc Thesis, İstanbul: MSÜ, Instıtute of Scıences.
[4] https://arcspace.com/feature/cambridge-central-mosque-marks-barfield-
architects/ (www-1)
[5] https://inhabitat.com/shigeru-bans-gorgeous-golf-club-house-is-inspired-
by-traditional-bamboo-cushions/ (www-2)
[6] wikipedia.org: Great Mosque of Dijenne (www-3)
[7] http://web.mit.edu/4.615/www/images/plans/Al-
Salih%20Tala%27i%20Mosque.htm (www-4)
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