ENTIRELY OUT OF THE ORDINARY
The capital of the Ottoman Empire and the largest city in Turkey, Istanbul is home to more than 3,000 mosques, many of them examples of Byzantine and Ottoman architecture.
The two most famous are the 17th century Sultanahmet, or Blue Mosque, and the 16th century Süleymaniye Mosque. In stark contrast to such classical houses of worship – and in stark contrast to each other – are two mosques built within the last decade, the Sancaklar Mosque and the Sakirin Mosque. Located in Buyuk Cekmece on the outskirts of Istanbul and completed in 2012, the Sancaklar Mosque blends into a prairie in a quiet park, separated by high walls from a busy highway.
The aim of the Istanbulbased Emre Arolat Architects (EAA) was to move away from the architectural race to be biggest and best, and instead to search for true Islamic meaning, with an emphasis on essence, not form.
The mosque’s underground interior echoes the Cave of Hira, where the Prophet Mohammed received his first revelations. Daylight streams in through slits in the Qibla wall, and manmade and natural elements juxtapose. There is no dome, but rather a roof of decreasing layers of geometric shapes of reinforced concrete.
“We believe that with the proportions of the space and the daylight filtering in above the Qibla wall, praying here will provide a completely different but equally enchanting experience,” Gülden Canol of EAA told Interior Design magazine as the 650-capacity mosque neared completion.
“In Islam the emphasis is on the essence of a space rather than the form. It does not dictate a form; it just has to be clean.” Those clean lines and the stunning simplicity won the Sancaklar Mosque first prize in the World Architectural Festival’s Best Religious Building category in 2013.
The Sakirin Mosque, conversely, is sleek, metallic, grey and modern. Located at an entrance to Karacaahmet Cemetery in Üsküdar and competed in 2009, it is the first mosque to have been designed by a woman. She was Zeynep Fadillioglu, the greatniece of Ibrahim and Semi- ha Sakir, whose family foundation funded the project in their memory. Fadillioglu was known for contemporary nightclub, hotel, restaurant and store designs, but she did not forsake paying homage to traditional Ottoman design. “It might be colour, it might be texture, it might be form. But each and every piece I have designed in the mosque has some kind of connection with tradition,” she told CNN. The 1,200-capacity mosque, the exterior of which was designed by architect Husrev Tayla, features a 130-foot-diameter dome, two minarets, iron and glass facades and a massive bronze-and crystal, low-hanging chandelier. “Using my home town Istanbul as the main part of my inspiration, in my designs I am trying to combine Eastern and Western aesthetics and embrace the rich heritage of the Ottomans to produce works that have a local feel and a universal appeal,” Fadillioglu told designboom.com. Universal appeal abounds at the Sancaklar and Sakirin Mosques, distinctive and timeless retreats where one feels humble, serene and contemplative – and each is well worth a visit by tourists in Istanbul.