Envisioning a new Muslim Community Center in North Portland

Recently I got together with the architects from local firm Architecture Office to hear about a proposed design for the Muslim Community Center of Portland.

The mosque would be home to the city's oldest Islamic congregation, formed in 1969, and is to be located on North Vancouver Avenue just south of Killingsworth. Although North and Northeast Portland have burgeoned with gentrification and added economic investment over the last decade, and the area is home to many churches, the Muslim Community Center could become something more: not just a place of worship, but a gathering place for people of all cultures and religions.

 
 

The design has a contemporary look that recalls (its minaret notwithstanding) Pietro Belluschi's mid-century Portland churches. There's also an aspect of the inward-focused courtyard style of traditional Islamic architecture that is being turned on its head here with a public garden facing Killingsworth and a garden on the roof.

“While their growing numbers are being increasingly augmented by immigrants, this is a historically home-grown community with deep roots in the African and African American populations of north and northeast Portland--devoted to a mission of outreach and education for Muslims and non-Muslims alike,” says Garrett Martin, one of partner with Architecture Office along with David Suttle and Dave Hurley, all pictured below. Martin also teaches architecture at Portland State University.  “This sense of openness and homegrown Islam has led them to seek from us a modern mosque for a new, progressive expression of American Islam.”

The 12,000 square foot design includes men’s and women’s prayer halls (separated visually at the request of the women, but still sharing the same space) with the requisite mihrab (niche facing Mecca), minbar (imam's platform), a large informal community hall, classrooms, ritual wudu (washing) spaces, and a series of courtyards which open the facility to the street, providing space for the community's Saturday bazaars and overflow space for the three main eid holidays each year.  Along with the minaret, Martin says, “these are traditional elements found in most mosques around the world, just reinterpreted in a slightly new idiom.”

“In our research and conversations with Koran scholars and members of the community,” Martin adds, “we discovered that simplicity and humility are extremely important qualities sought for mosques, yet often historically overlooked for the sake of the individual glorification of a rich patron.”

The architects’ design is a series of continuously unfolding masonry layers, at times protecting and at other times opening up to embrace the surroundings or provide focused passages of daylight.  There are also places where these layers are perforated in an updated interpretation of the ornate stonework screens of Islamic architecture.  These serve a practical function, providing sunshades on the more exposed faces, while tying the building to its traditions and providing a diffuse counterpart to some of the more focused apertures and light-shafts.

 

The building is also situated at an angle to the street grid and instead is placed onto a q'ibla, or Mecca-facing axis, allowing frequent prayer to occur anywhere in the facility, by merely facing a room's end wall.  A portion of the minaret folds off this axis and back onto the street grid, symbolically calling the greater city to prayer, while pulling daylight onto the minbar inside.

“The masonry layers also serve an environmental function,” Martin says, “providing thermal mass for more passive heating and cooling strategies, while an operably skylit internal courtyard is conceived as a potential heat-chimney.”

The Muslim Community Center is currently in a fundraising campaign, and word is that the campaign is running short of its targeted goals. But, the architect says, “This community is actually trying to make a social difference, to emphasize connections and understanding across religions and cultures,  through the very architecture of the building proposed.”

Comments

[Steve L.]

There are a series of ten illustrations on the MCC fundraising site that offer better views from a persons perspective and interior shots that show the nice play of light through the screen walls. They can be found at the following address, just change the number at the end of the address to see a different shot:

http://mccpbuildingfund.org/building/tour/render01.jpg

I love the simplicity and humility themes, we could use more of that.

[imd]

i like how it doesnt have a dome and its following the style of the kaba

[Debbie]

Can't wait to hear 5 daily calls to prayer over a loud speaker. I miss the church bells! God save us all!

[geoff]

can you imagine the political uproar, especially in 'progressive' pdx if a christian church built separate facilities for men and women?

[jt]

geoff, islamic prayer halls are separated by gender for modesty purposes, not hierarchy. women are typically invited to pray in the same space as men (as, i assume, is the case here), but they have the option of occupying their own space if they so desire. it is a choice, not a mandate.

and frankly, debbie, i love the sound of the call to prayer, but what gives you the idea there will be a loud speaker? god save you. the rest of humanity will learn to get along without you.

[Steve L.]

Aren’t church bells a call to prayer?

[geoff]

modesty purposes, as in the same theme as burqas?

Look up the concept of Namus, and see how the term 'modesty' is intertwined with other lovely virtues such as 'obedience' and 'honor'.

It's their building, their religion, they can do what they want. I'm just sayin'...

[Andy]

just sayin' what, exactly?

[gm]

JT is correct. The whole of the Community Center is open to everyone; and the gender-separate facilities were a specific request from the sisters themselves. There will be no loudspeaker announcing the call to prayer out to the street. The minaret is meant as a visual gesture of welcome. Hopefully this dispels a few more stereotypes.

[Laurence]

I am really surprised and dismayed by the anti-Islamic remarks expressed above. Comments such as:
-"It's their building, their religion, they can do what they want. I'm just sayin'..."
-"can you imagine the political uproar, ... if a christian church built separate facilities for men and women?"
-"Can't wait to hear 5 daily calls to prayer over a loud speaker. I miss the church bells! God save us all!'
-"i like how it doesnt have a dome"

These are unveiled remarks of prejudice directed at people's religious, architectural and cultural heritage. One would think this is a "Fox News" blog after reading those comments.

Getting back to an architectural discussion, I recommend folks take a look at the contemporary mosque designs of Abdel-Wahed El Wakil, which can be viewed at Archnet.
http://www.archnet.org/library/parties/one-party.jsp?party_id=448

[Steve L.]

Well said Laurence.

[Debbie]

In response to "JT" -- Your post is a veiled threat towards me, a complete stranger:

"the rest of humanity will learn to get along without you."---JT

Yes, church bells are a call to prayer. However, they have been silent for decades in the U.S. Neighbors complain I guess. I don't know why.

As for adding to the architecture discussion, the Hagia Sofia was Christianity's Great Church - ransacked and Islamized by Muslim Ottoman conquerers in Turkey.

I'm very much aware that the spread of Islam in Europe and America is being facilitated by the builders of mosques. It's tragic that these local architects are being manipulated as "useful idiots" by the stealth conquerors, the jihadists that liberals do not believe exist - at their peril.

[me]

Debbie- Don't forget to mention the black helicopters!

[Eric Cantona]

Debbie - you know nothing of what you speak, nor of who you speak out against. people that are presumably "complete strangers" to you.

educate yourself, then maybe you'll have something useful to contribute to the conversation.

[jt]

debbie, my statement was not a veiled threat. it was just plain old, honest, wishful thinking that God would save you as soon as possible -- that He would take you from this sinful earth that's overrun with heathens, degenerates, tattooed weirdos and people with beliefs different from yours, and deliver you to that fluffy little cloud with your name on it way up there in Heaven. (please, God, let it happen soon.)

the sooner God rids this beautiful green earth of fascist rednecks like yourself, the sooner we reasonable human beings can learn to get along with one another.

i hope that clarifies my statement. by the way, did you invent the word "Islamized"?

[Brendan]

While the back-and-forth seems to be off topic, I think it brings up a valid issue that's relevant to the architecture. Although Debbie's view is NOT the majority, it's important to remember that she is not the only one that may have a prejudice against a particular faith. Maybe the prejudice is rooted in ignorance or maybe an experience she's had. Either way, treating her with hosility will only worsen the problem and deepen her prejudice.

My question for Garrett is: What is the architecture doing to address the preconceived notions that people have about the Islamic faith? Looking at the model (and especially the renders in the link provided by Steve) I understand the massing is intended to be iconic, but does it have to completely turn it's back to the street? The thin horizontal awning is a little too "blade" like in proportion to feel welcoming.

I know the intent was to create inwardly focused spaces; I'm not saying those should be eliminated. But I do think it's imparative to make the street presence inviting. It is a Community Center after all, and there is an opportunity to educate those who may be ignorant of the Muslim community.

[gm]

Brendan, thanks for trying to bring the conversation back to architecture. As for the observation that that building 'completely turns its back' to the street--pleas allow us to clarify.

The entry courtyard space at the south of the site is designed as an active pedestrian plaza, meant to bring the life of the community center out to the street. For example, the community has its own weekly outdoor bazaar, and it was felt that this type of gathering not be pushed away from the street but be accommodated in this courtyard, visible and open to the community. At other times it is conceived as any other public plaza: a place for gathering, possibly dining, possibly performance, basically flexible and active. In this sense the actual front door of the community center is 28 feet wide, and always open.

If you look at any neighborhood church or community center, I think you'll have a hard time finding a space such as this right off the sidewalk. Admittedly, there are very few spaces like this in Portland--but that doesn't mean it shouldn't happen here--and it's not just because it rains a lot. There are great examples of these plazas in cities with much worse climates, remaining quite active and vibrant year-round.

As for the space under the awning, we've been looking at incorporating benches, plantings, and other elements to work in concert with the adjacent bus stop. We're working with fantastic landscape architects Viridian Environmental Design (vedllc.com) on this as we speak, and we're confident it will activate the street presence of the community center surprisingly well.

We appreciate the criticism, and are doing our best to make sure the design 'walks the talk'. But just because it's not a storefront doesn't mean it 'completely turns its back to the street'.

[Steve L.]

The Annual Greek Festival at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral is one of my favorite cultural events in Portland, and it could be a good model for the type of event the MCC could produce as an outreach to the community, to build mutual understanding and bring in a little extra money.

[Brendan]

Garrett, I appreciate the clarification and was in no way inferring the use of storefront.

I think your intention for the south courtyard sounds great, it was just impossible to gather that from the massing model which represents a rotated object placed on the site. It'll be interesting to see how the landscape design influences the building massing.

I think that landscape design can definitely achieve the sense of welcomeness we're talking about. But since only the building massing is depicted here, I was only speaking with respect to that.

On the whole I really like what you guys have done so far, especially with the wall perforations. They remind me of books on a shelf. Maybe they can be incorporated at different scales or sizes to respond to program or solar orientation.

[Najib]

Switzerland citizens ban minarets. Until Islamist countries allow freedom of Christians to build churches and do not force a tax on non-Muslims, Muslims must get a taste of their own medicine: intolerance for other religions. See article written by a Muslim who is in agreement with my position.

[Najib]

'Either Europe will be Islamized' or Islam will be Europonized. To read the article click on my name.

[Najib]

"When is a mosque not a mosque?" Islam Glossary: taqiyya: lying -- Lying is permitted in Islam. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taqiyya

You've been had!