The design of the sanctuary (musalla)
Table 3.1 Children (0–10 years)
Female
Male
Capacity
10 per cent
30 per cent
60 per cent
100 per cent
100
300
600
1000
The minimum size for the Islamic Center is found to be around 1000–3000 worshippers, but should be planned in advance for growth and expansion depending on site regulations, growth of community, and expected financial gains. If the urban mosque or Islamic Center serves a heavily populated city, as we see in Europe and America, the size can be determined according to the number of worshippers that frequent the mosque on a daily and especially Friday prayer. It should be noted that the required area is determined based on the number of worshippers that attend the mosque. Generally all the items described below and in Table 3.3 are found both in the urban mosque and the Islamic Center. Table 3.2 Outline of a preliminary program for an urban mosque Item no.
Function/use/type
Minimum required (sq. ft.)
1
Imam’s office and conference room
200 500
2
Library
3
Day-care facilities
3000
4
Kitchen and dining area
1000
5
Conference room
200
6
Teaching/lecture halls
1000
7
Ablution area/toilets
3000
8
Janitor’s storeroom
100
9
Recreation/ multipurpose
3000
10
Auditorium/banquet
3000
11
General storage
500
12
Child care/playroom
200
13
Entry lobby/shoe storage bins
500–1000
14
Classroom/typical
200
15
Bookstore
500
16
Security/audio-visual room
200
17
Mechanical equipment 500–1000
18
Teachers’ lounge
300–500
Some Islamic Centers provide the resident Imam (religious official) and his immediate family with an apartment and supporting facilities. The Islamic Center normally requires the resident Imam to lead the five daily prayers and the Friday prayer, as well as often serving other subsidiary functions like counseling, teaching, conflict resolution, and promotional meetings. Therefore it is very convenient to have the Imam located in close proximity. The size of the unit for the Imam may vary between three and four bedrooms with dining and living rooms and a study. The Imam’s office, library, and conference room have to be located where they are directly accessible to and from the mosque. The office should be located in a convenient way so that the Imam can reach his place or the mimbar or dais without interrupting, stepping over, or having to go around worshippers. A public, accessible library should be included with the urban mosque and Islamic Center mosque especially to serve the educational and intellectual needs of the community. Generally, there is no maximum limit for the library size; however, the size is dependent on the occupancy and the sizes and types of library collections (preserved archives, periodicals, digital, etc.). Depending on the size and available funds, a key feature to these libraries in our case-precedents beyond book storage is a prominent, acoustically sound and well-lit (naturally lit) reading area. The library can be connected to the teaching, lecture, and multi-use community meeting rooms. The walls of sanctuary space itself can and are often incorporated as a place for the display and reading of sacred texts, celebrating intellectualism within the comforts and atmosphere of the sacred place. Educational facilities in the form of classrooms (madrasa) and supporting offices, storage, rest rooms, etc. are often also included in the project, depending on the programmatic needs of the community. In these cases, these facilities are designed based upon occupancy and follow the basic design requirements associated per structural type and building-use classifications per code. In all these cases, designs should follow the highest set of esthetic and conceptual standards as one would expect on any publicly celebrated architectural type.
Estimating the area of a mosque Knowing that the musalla in a mosque generally requires more space per person, roughly 2 ft. 6 inches 4 ft. or 0.80 m 1.2 m, than the other ancillary areas, these properties should be applied in the laying out of the musalla with precision. There are a number of key factors that determine the area of a mosque, the most fundamental of which is the spatial capacity of worshippers. To estimate this, a rule of thumb is used for each individual who occupies a prayer area of about 10.5 sq. ft. or around 1 m2. The actual recommended area is 80 cm/2 ft. 6 inches wide in the sitting posture and 120 cm/4 ft. while prostrate/length. To estimate the gross floor area of a small mosque 20 per cent is added and 30–40 per cent for gross areas in larger congregation mosques. While many building codes for assemblies and places of worship do not have matching nomenclature specially for ‘prayer areas’ in this sense, it may be possible within these codes to substitute occupancy requirements one might have derived from the same number 49