Mosque for All: BIG Wins Competition To Design Inside-Out Albanian Cultural Center

An enticing new Islamic cultural center in the Albanian capital of <a href="http://inhabitat.com/coop-himmelblau-unveils-design-for-crystalline-parliament-complex-in-albania/">Tirana</a> will be designed by none other than the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/big-unveils-radically-sloped-west-57-residential-tower-in-nyc-today/">Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)</a>, who just announced that their team took home first place in an invited competition. The "Mosque For All" with feature a new mosque in Scanderbeg Square as well as an Islamic Centre, and a Museum of Religious Harmony as a way to encourage religious tolerance and understanding. The inside-out, mostly outdoor and shaded <a href="http://inhabitat.com/vanishing-mosque-does-double-duty-as-a-public-plaza/">mosque</a> is planned so that services are inclusive and inviting.

Albania sits at the crossroads of three major religions: Islam, Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity, and two new churches were recently completed for the later religions.

So in order to promote religious harmony within a capital city in the midst of major renovations, the City of Tirana set aside Scanderbeg Square for the Islamic cultural center.

Playing off the orientation of the existing square as well as alignment towards Mecca, the buildings' forms emerge from these intersecting axes.

The back of the buildings line up with the streets while a series of semi-covered plazas, two minor ones on the sides of the Mosque and a major plaza with a minaret in front, face Mecca.

The mosque area is flexible to accommodate 1,000 people for daily prayers all the way up to 10,000 for special holy days.

All the shaded spaces are cool and inviting, while the curved facades are covered in a multitude of rectangular windows inspired by mashrabiya screens.

Next to the mosque will be The Quran Gardens, which will contain all of the plants mentioned in the Quran in the same amount as the number of times they appear in the holy scripture.

The project team for the 27,000 sq m center includes BIG, Martha Schwartz Landscape, Buro Happold, Speirs &amp; Major, Lutzenberger &amp;Lutzenberger, and Global Cultural Asset Management.

By opening up the mosque to the outdoors, the space is open and inviting, not to mention more energy efficient.

The mosque had to align to both the city square and Mecca and these requirements helped shape the master plan.

The space is oriented to the street.

The mosque is oriented to Mecca.

Open plazas emerge and a minaret is added.