Cambridge Central
Mosque
A sustainable oasis
for prayer
The Cambridge Central Mosque is an extraordinary building that fuses traditional architecture with modern. The thought behind it was to create a British mosque for the 21st century, and the architects found inspiration in both Islamic and English religious architectural traditions. Marks Barfield Architects won the competition to design the building in 2009, and their concept was to create a calm oasis with a lot of green areas.
The mosque also strives to be as green as possible and sustainability was taken into consideration when this space was built. The large skylights in the roof of the building provides natural light all year round, and it is supplemented by low energy LED bulbs. There is also solar panels on the roof and heat pumps that create more energy than they use, to keep the carbon footprint as low as possible.
Within the building, d line products from the Knud Holscher collection has been used. The pull and lever handles in real satin brass finish is stunning against the mix of dark and light wood, that is dominant in the mosque. The Cambridge Central Mosque was also recently nominated for the RIBA Stirling Prize, together with six other buildings.
The pull handle mitred from the Knud Holscher collection
The pull handle mitred from the Knud Holscher collection
“We didn’t want to create a replica or pastiche of something that existed elsewhere. The opportunity to do something English, British, excited us. Now that there is a significant Muslim community it’s time to work out what it means to have an English mosque.’’ - David Marks
