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Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

0

  • Work on this object ended.

2009

  • Work on this object began.

2015

2025

  • You found it!

Masdar Mosque (unbuilt)

This is a Masdar Mosque (unbuilt). It was designed by Heatherwick Studio and Thomas Heatherwick and made for (as the client) Foster + Partners. It is dated 2009.

What might a twenty-first century mosque be like?
Heatherwick Studio was invited to design a mosque in Masdar, a sustainable city in Abu Dhabi being master-planned by architects Foster + Partners. Since the building will be two stories above ground, with a service zone below, the studio saw an opportunity to reconnect with the earth by raising the surrounding paving, walkways, and plantings to form the mosque enclosure. Optical fibers threaded through perfora- tions channel daylight that correlates with patterns in the mosque carpet to guide kneeling worshipers. The client wanted a more traditional structure, but the studio sees a place for mosques that engage a forward-looking faith.

It is credited Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio.

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio.

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-6.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/85006443/ |title=Masdar Mosque (unbuilt) |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=19 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>