A mosque
Genoa Summer School in collaboration with San Rocco Magazine
With Maria Daria Oancea - Alexandra Berdan.
The project of a new mosque in the city of Genoa comes as a response to the need voiced by the ever-growing Islamic community to have a place of worship as well as a space to gather and regain a sense of group identity in a foreign land.
The barycentric location chosen is meant to be both a provocation and a way to reopen a dialog between cultures.
The project follows this philosophy: the mosque abandons the perimeter, one of the main characterizing elements of this building typology, which will instead be outlined by the surrounding buildings and landscape. The fountain is what will arrange the space all around as if the public space was part of the themenos.
The actual mosque is the result of the selection and preservation of only what is essential to the Islamic prayer: the wall with the quibla, which encompasses a place for the ablution, and a covered praying space. This last element is a modular structure made of steel which allows a future expansion.
