Chapter, “Generative Design Principles for the Contemporary Mosque” by Azra Akšamija.
The Netherlands’ approximately 800,000 Muslims have access to almost 500 mosques. While mosques were once quietly accommodated in old school buildings, factories or churches, today the construction of new mosques is up–one of the factors literally increasing the visibility of Islam in Dutch society. The current debate about the religious, social, political and cultural position of the mosque is integral to society–not only in the Netherlands but internationally. The Mosque: Political, Architectural and Social Transformations embraces a vision that extends beyond the Euro-Islamic equation. The first part of this volume introduces an architectural analysis of the mosque. The second part of the book contextualizes the mosque in a larger sociopolitical debate. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the book includes insights from a politician, a theologian, a sociologist, a philosopher, an anthropologist and an architecture historian.
