THE MOSQUE A CROSS-CULTURAL BUILDING

The title of this conference raises many questions about what we mean by
claiming that mosques are transcultural.
Clearly, mosques throughout the world have left a rich architectural legacy
linked to their local settings and the diverse cultures they have interacted
with. We see that on the personal level, this supremely influential building
is characterized by a cultural identity that is rarely found in other places of
worship; seamlessly incorporating local components yet strictly maintaining
a defining constancy. This characteristic has resulted in a cumulative
development of mosque architecture and spatial form over the many centuries
of its continuation.
It is natural for any building to express a relationship with the local natural
and cultural environment, but in the case of the mosque, its form is free
from restrictions of design and components except for the orientation of the
prayer hall to the qiblah. And since this orientation changes from one place to
another, it has inspired builders and architects with a high degree of flexibility
with regard to the fundamental shape of the mosque and its relation to the
surrounding urban fabric.
This third staging of the International Conference on Mosque Architecture is
entitled ‘The Mosque: A Cross-Cultural Building’. Organized by the Abdullatif
Alfozan Award for Mosque Architecture in collaboration with Kuwait University‘s
College of Architecture, and held by the Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural
Center, the conference will see the expert participation of 15 architects and
specialists in mosque architecture and arts, with some 40 refereed scientific
papers from 50 researchers.