Archinect - News

Dabbagh Architects’ first mosque project gives an enlightening new spiritual resource to Dubai's Al Quoz district

2021-12-21T17:04:00-05:00

A bright new spiritual center is finally open in Al Quoz, the industrial heart of Dubai.

Dabbagh Architects is behind one of the first mosques in the Emirates ever designed by a female architect.

Photo: Gerry O’Leary

A masterwork of materiality and form, the newly-completed mosque evokes a sense of inner calm to its worshippers, offering a spiritual break from the materialism of the outside world as promoted in the Quran.

Sumaya Dabbagh is one of only a handful of Saudi women architects and is considered a leader in the Gulf region for her designs, which “place an emphasis on the intangible in architecture; seeking to create meaning and a sense of the poetic in order to form a connection with each building’s user.”

Photo: Gerry O’Leary

“At the end of each project, my hope is that the building will evoke the feelings and emotions that were envisioned at the outset,” the architect said in a statement. “There is a defining, magical moment when the building is born and claims a life of...

Khamenei's fight against "un-Islamic" architecture in Iran

2014-12-11T13:33:00-05:00

For centuries, the spatial layout of house design in Iran reflected the patriarchal structure of the society through the rigid segregation between the andaruni and biruni, private and public space. [...] Modern architecture is also considered erotic because, unlike the spatially introverted pre-modern architecture of Iran, it faces outward with windows that shamelessly offer strangers a peek at the buildings’ private parts.

Culture, ethics & architecture

2013-02-22T13:02:00-05:00

Today, many Muslim societies like Pakistan are facing enormous challenges in terms of the built environment. At times construction-related activities are driven largely by economic forces with less consideration for their impact on common people and the environment. It is also observed that sometimes, buildings are constructed while copying from other contexts without considering the local context/culture. This process has posed critical challenges.