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Grand Mosque of Copenhagen

This is a project by BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group and it is located at Copenhagen, Denmark. Project's program: Mosque. There are seven images for Grand Mosque of Copenhagen.

: © BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group

Project details

Project name: Grand Mosque of Copenhagen
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Program: Mosque
Area: Project Size: 4,500 m2
Year: Competition: 2010, 1st Prize
Client: Bach Gruppen A/S
Project by: BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group
Team: Partner in charge: Bjarke Ingels • Project leader: Ole Schroder • Team: Cat Huang, Nanna Gyldholm Moller, Karsten Hammer Hansen, Kathrin Gimmel, Christian Alvares Gomez, Gaetan Brunet, Michael Ferdinand Eliasen Henriksen, Stanley Lung, Brian Yang, Amy Campell, Joao P. Albuquerque
Others: Collaboration: PK3, Grontmij Carl Bro, Haslov & Kjaersgaard

Project images

Designer's statement

The planned Copenhagen mosque designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, takes another step forward as the city council approves the local development plan.

The construction of the 124000 m2 development incorporating Denmark's first purpose-built mosque at the center of the complex will start within a year. The development is managed by the site owner Bach Group in cooperation with the Copenhagen-based architects BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and the Muslim Council of Denmark, an independent umbrella organization representing 13 different Muslim organizations and up to 40,000 members. The 4500 m2 mosque is a unique complex which unifies religious facilities, including a prayer hall for 3000 people, shops, conference facilities, a gallery, an auditorium and an Islamic library in one cultural center that welcomes life and activity across religions, nationalities, economy and social status.

The mosque design is rooted in modern Scandinavian tradition and strongly inspired by Islamic architecture. As a long ceramic wall folding around itself in a cascade of five edges, the mosque spirals 46 meters towards the sky as an Islamic counterpart of the Our Saviour Church steeple in Copenhagen. From the inside it is a completely open structure where the traditionally closed ceiling is replaced by the Scandinavian sky - a mosque bathed in Danish daylight. While a great deal of Islamic architecture is about controlling and minimizing direct sunlight, the ambition of the new Danish mosque is to maximize its ability to absorb the sun. The mosque is expected to support and facilitate the cultural integration of Islamic and Danish societies and strengthen the ties between the Danish Muslim community and the region.

"Our purpose was to design a Danish mosque as an interpretation of the Islamic architectural and cultural tradition adjusted to the Danish context - the same elements that we know from traditional mosques in the Arabic world, adapted to Danish climate conditions and lighting." Founder and Creative Director, BIG, Bjarke Ingels

Financing and running of the new Copenhagen mosque is facilitated by The Muslim Council of Denmark, who will start fundraising activities among the Danish and international Muslim community, foundations and organizations over the next several months.