Category: Architecture

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Ground Zero Mosque to be the First LEED certified Mosque in the U.S.

 

The “Ground Zero Mosque” and community center has been one of the hottest topics lately to the extent of taking over the devastating news of the floods in Pakistan. This is a clear indication of the rise of hate and fear that has conquered over many Americans in particular after the propaganda against Islamists in the past few years. Putting this topic out of political context , the latest news is that the project developers are planning to go green and achieve LEED certification. This is remarkable news in many ways. For those not familiar with the term LEED, it is "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design", according to Wikipedia it is " an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies intended to improve performance in metrics such as energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts."

A report on the dailybeast.com by Ibrahim Abdul-Matin author of Green Deen: What Islam Teaches About Protecting the Planet, indicates that the developers of Park51 , the Islamic cultural and community center, are serious about going green and achieving the LEED certification. An architectural bureau has not been assigned for the mission yet, but if they abide by what they promise, this will be the first LEED certified mosque in the U.S.

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The World’s new Clock: The Mecca Royal Clock

 

For over a century Big Ben has been the symbol of world time, but now funded by the government, Saudis seek to divert the attention and set their own time.

It is an amazing idea since our local and arabic channels use Mecca time as the standard time, but why should they copy the West yet always taller and bigger? Shouldn’t the Arab and Islamic World have architectural icons instead of replicating the Big Ben and Empire state building? Even the engineers are Swiss and German.

 

The concept is already being realized with impressive specifications that in a way meet the aura of the place.

The complex housing the clock (601meters high) will be the world’s second tallest building after  Burj Khalifa, (828meters high)  the recently inaugurated skyscraper of Dubai. The clock is 40m in diameter and is made with 98 million pieces of glass mosaics, its faces are lit with 2 million LED’s.

Built by a government-controlled fund, the complex has seven huge towers . Six are between 42 and 48 stories, and in the middle is the clock tower, appearing nearly twice as tall as the others.

The entire complex will have 3,000 hotel rooms and apartments, a  shopping center and prayer and conference halls, and a  four-story astronomical observatory and Islamic museum all taking up around 1.5 million square meters  of floor space.

At the peak of the hajj the complex should accommodate around 65,000 people.

About 21,000 white and green coloured lights ,probably indicating the Saudi flag colors ,will flash to as far as 30 kilometers  five-times a day signaling prayer times.

Sources: Fox News, The Telegraph

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