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. 

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.”

“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 its own. For this, my first mosque, that moment was particularly moving. I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to create a sacred space that brings people together for worship.” 

A well-honed sense of scale and natural light combine to create an enhanced connection to the mosque’s divine offerings, beginning with the outdoor entrance, which marks the starting point of a journey that continues into the ablution area and lobby before culminating in the prayer hall, where worshippers complete their transformation underneath a perforated dome with backlighted Mihrab.

The material of the mosque itself is culled from local sources. The building’s exterior is composed of concrete paneling and stone from Oman and is both recessed and perforated to create a cooled interior and dynamic outer appearance. Geometric motifs figure prominently throughout, with a particularly illuminating Surah verse wrapping the prayer hall to enact a creative symbol of protection. 

The 1,680-square-meter (18,000-square-foot) complex also houses a residence for the mosque’s Imam and Muezzin. Dabbagh completed the building with the help WAHO Landscape Architecture for their client, the family of the late Mohamed Abdulkhaliq Gargash. The mosque inaugurated at the end of the summer after a years-long construction process.