University of Hartford graduate architecture students recently visited a mosque in Berlin, Connecticut, for research on a design studio project. Pictured, left to right, are students Alexis Hoff, Nabila Ahmed, Mary K. Scanlon, Maik Wedig, Jan-Hendrik Hoehnk, and Brian Gonzalez. Photo: Michael J. Crosbie
Architecture graduate students from the University of
Hartford recently made a special visit to the Berlin Mosque and the Islamic
Association of Greater Hartford (IAGH) in Berlin, Connecticut, to attend a
Friday prayer service and tour the mosque. The visit was part of an
architecture studio assignment to design an Islamic center and mosque for a
site in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The six Master of Architecture students were
accompanied by studio professor Michael J. Crosbie, who formulated the design
problem in 2006 as a way to introduce diversity into the graduate program and
provide students with a building type that they typically have little
experience with. The “mosque project,” as it has become known in the graduate
architecture program, has been used in design studios taught by Crosbie and
Professor Daniel Davis over the past 11 years.
On the
recent Friday field trip, the University of Hartford contingent was welcomed to
the mosque by Imam Refai Arefin and Dr. Reza Mansoor, president of the IAGH.
The students (Nabila Ahmed, Brian Gonzalez, Jan-Hendrik Hoehnk, Alexis Hoff,
Mary K. Scanlon, and Maik Wedig) and their professor attended the afternoon prayer
service, noting the sequence of the ritual, how the prayer space is used, and
design elements in the space. A khutbah (the
Muslim term for a sermon) was delivered by Imam Asif Hirani of the Islamic
Center of Connecticut in Windsor, who also publically welcomed the University
of Hartford contingent. After the service, several congregants made a point to greet
the students and faculty and to welcome them to the Berlin Mosque.
The tour of
the building allowed students and faculty to visit areas for ablutions (washing
performed before the prayer service), shoe storage (footwear is not worn inside
the prayer hall), separate prayer spaces for men and women, and areas devoted
to child care and community events. The design studio project is similar in
size and scope to the Berlin Mosque.
As a way to
familiarize the students with the history of mosque design, several weeks ago
the students and faculty visited the Hartford Seminary near the University of
Hartford campus for a two-hour presentation by Dr. Yahya Michot, seminary
Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations, on the history of
Islam and its architectural traditions.
According
to Professor Crosbie, the mosque design project was instituted to broaden
diversity and student experience in an area that they might not be familiar
with. Of the studio’s six graduate students, one is a practicing Muslim, but in
many of the past years the studio class has lacked students with first-hand experience
of the building type and the traditions of Islamic architecture. Students will
present their individual design projects in the Department of Architecture
studios on the afternoon of December 8; the campus community is welcome.
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