Adjaye Associates has completed their Abrahamic Family House project in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The development is comprised of three religious spaces: a mosque, a synagogue, and a church, all of which sit upon a secular visitor pavilion, with a mission of “nurturing the values of peaceful co-existence and acceptance among different beliefs, nationalities, and cultures.”

Within each of the three places of worship, visitors will be able to observe religious services, listen to scriptures, and experience sacred rituals. The fourth sacred space will meanwhile serve as a center for people of all faiths, offering educational and event-based programming.

“As an architect, I want to create a building that starts to dissolve the notion of hierarchical difference — it should represent universality and totality — something higher, that enhances the richness of human life,” said David Adjaye about the interfaith complex, which is set to open in the Saadiyat Cultural District on March 1st.

The project’s architectural form was derived from a study of the similarities between the three faiths. The resulting scheme is composed of what the team calls “powerful plutonic forms with a clear geometry,” with three cubes sitting on a plinth. 

While each cube is orientated differently and articulates its own motif of colonnades, screens, and vaults, the commonality is found through shared massing and materiality to create a coherent silhouette. Meanwhile, the center of the ensemble holds a public garden imagined by the team as “a safe space where community, connection, and civility combine.”

Adjaye Associates first unveiled the design back in 2019, when they were awarded the commission through a competition. “I’ve always seen these three religions as very different — it’s what we’re led to believe, but then you discover these incredible connections and overlaps that sit with these distinct differences,” David Adjaye said at the time of the project’s unveiling.

News of the scheme comes shortly after Adjaye Associates revealed their design for a revitalized Bedford Stuyvesant campus in Brooklyn. The firm has also recently seen progress made on its revived Toronto Quayside master plan, whose commission they are sharing with other high-profile firms.