The mosque emphasizes Jedeïda strategic position as the fastest growing community near Tunis.
This landmark has a strategic position at the center of a new urban development (for 15,000 people also designed by the firm). The design emphasizes “unity”, “centrality”, “togetherness”, and an urban life choreographed around religious chants and call to prayer.
The Hybrid Architecture bridges vernacular techniques and materials of construction reinterpreted and updated by digital technology. These bridges attempt to link irresolvable contractions (tradition versus modernity), and expand on our philosophical approach of architecture as a "second nature"(architecture as an extension of nature) which allows to build more sustainable building while including the skills of local masons to construct design using Rhino and Rhinovault.
Three spiritual principles inspire the design:
1 - Transcendence: the vault soars like a light organic shell detached from the ground.
2 - Immanence: the floor is caving in within the earth. Heated in winter, it warms up during prayers.
3 - Totality (oneness): All the bricks constituting the vault come from the same unique mould and are men hand made.
Designed with Rhino Vault (a special Rhino plugin to construct vault), the geometries of the structure were tested during the design process phase so that only compression stresses act on the vault thus offering the most efficient and practical design. A mock up model was built as a test. Traditional knowledge of tile vaulting constructions (three interwoven layers) meets with contemporary computational tools and give local craftsman the ability to perfect their building vault skills.
All the information about how to enter the 2020 WAN Awards is here.
We are very happy to offer support so please don’t hesitate to email Georgia, WAN Awards Event Coordinator with any questions at Georgia.Baily@haymarket.com.
Last year more than 40 countries took part in the WAN Awards with strong showings from Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. And we saw some truly outstanding projects, take a look at the winners from last year here.