Design Criteria for Mosques and Islamic Centers

In an area where only a handful of books exist, Design Criteria for Mosques is a welcome addition. A follow up of sorts to Kahera’s Deconstructing the American Mosque (2002), it was hoped that this text would present new material and a fresh analysis in addition to serving as a guide for design. Th...

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Autor principal: Tammy Gaber
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Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: International Institute of Islamic Thought 2010
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:a9a3748c5d624387a5a64f26acca44ad2021-12-02T19:23:14ZDesign Criteria for Mosques and Islamic Centers10.35632/ajis.v27i3.13192690-37332690-3741https://doaj.org/article/a9a3748c5d624387a5a64f26acca44ad2010-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/1319https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3733https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3741 In an area where only a handful of books exist, Design Criteria for Mosques is a welcome addition. A follow up of sorts to Kahera’s Deconstructing the American Mosque (2002), it was hoped that this text would present new material and a fresh analysis in addition to serving as a guide for design. The five-chapter book covers mosques built in North America and Europe from the early 1920s onwards and incorporates many images and architectural drawings, including many from the author’s design office. Several overall issues related to inconsistency, however, undermine its potential. The greatest one is that of voice, a common enough problem when a book is written by multiple authors – the text fluctuates between didactic and spare guide lists for planning and building a mosque to a philosophical discourse on the meaning of each issue related to designing contemporary mosques. The images and drawings could have mediated between the two polarized voices. The use of images, if explained in the text or even in subtitles, could have faciliated the discourse and related the ideas to the guideline lists. Yet this is not the case, for the images and drawings (of inconsistent quality and often with illegible dimensions) are included in the text’s body but seldom referenced in the text. The captions are also non-explanatory, thereby leaving the reader to guess at their relevance to the discourse and the lists ... Tammy GaberInternational Institute of Islamic ThoughtarticleIslamBP1-253ENAmerican Journal of Islam and Society, Vol 27, Iss 3 (2010)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Islam
BP1-253
spellingShingle Islam
BP1-253
Tammy Gaber
Design Criteria for Mosques and Islamic Centers
description In an area where only a handful of books exist, Design Criteria for Mosques is a welcome addition. A follow up of sorts to Kahera’s Deconstructing the American Mosque (2002), it was hoped that this text would present new material and a fresh analysis in addition to serving as a guide for design. The five-chapter book covers mosques built in North America and Europe from the early 1920s onwards and incorporates many images and architectural drawings, including many from the author’s design office. Several overall issues related to inconsistency, however, undermine its potential. The greatest one is that of voice, a common enough problem when a book is written by multiple authors – the text fluctuates between didactic and spare guide lists for planning and building a mosque to a philosophical discourse on the meaning of each issue related to designing contemporary mosques. The images and drawings could have mediated between the two polarized voices. The use of images, if explained in the text or even in subtitles, could have faciliated the discourse and related the ideas to the guideline lists. Yet this is not the case, for the images and drawings (of inconsistent quality and often with illegible dimensions) are included in the text’s body but seldom referenced in the text. The captions are also non-explanatory, thereby leaving the reader to guess at their relevance to the discourse and the lists ...
format article
author Tammy Gaber
author_facet Tammy Gaber
author_sort Tammy Gaber
title Design Criteria for Mosques and Islamic Centers
title_short Design Criteria for Mosques and Islamic Centers
title_full Design Criteria for Mosques and Islamic Centers
title_fullStr Design Criteria for Mosques and Islamic Centers
title_full_unstemmed Design Criteria for Mosques and Islamic Centers
title_sort design criteria for mosques and islamic centers
publisher International Institute of Islamic Thought
publishDate 2010
url https://doaj.org/article/a9a3748c5d624387a5a64f26acca44ad
work_keys_str_mv AT tammygaber designcriteriaformosquesandislamiccenters
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