Art Calendar, Design, 10 March 2023 by Rose Fedi

Abrahamic Family House" peace project

The "Abrahamic Family House" by the British architectural firm Adjaye Associates combines a church, a mosque and a synagogue in one complex. The foundation stone was laid by an interdenominational committee that wants to bring peace between nationalities and faiths.

The most important design element of the buildings is sunlight.

 The Abrahamic Family House is an interfaith complex featuring three houses of worship—the Imam Al-Tayeb Mosque (left), His Holiness Francis Church (right), and Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue (center); viewed from the southeast. Photo: Dror Baldinger, Credit Adjaye Associates

The most important design element of the buildings is sunlight.

The architecture (source Adaje Architects)

The Abrahamic Family House consists of three religious spaces: a mosque, a church and a synagogue, all of which sit atop a fourth secular space consisting of a forum and a raised garden. The house is intended to serve as a community for interfaith dialogue and exchange, promoting the values of peaceful coexistence and acceptance of different faiths, nationalities and cultures. In each of the houses of worship, visitors can attend services, listen to sacred scriptures and experience sacred rituals.

Upon entering each place of worship, visitors are flooded with light while hot air is drawn from the surroundings to the ornate ceilings, tempering the interior. The buildings are made of a cream-coloured concrete that deflects the heat of the sun and references the sand and mountains of the Emirates.

The three cubic houses of worship have the same volume. At the same time, each building's architectural layout is specific to its location and religious references.

Each house of worship has a courtyard with a water feature and adjoining rooms dedicated to specific religious traditions and practices. The houses are connected by a garden.The most important design element of the buildings is sunlight.

The three cubic houses of worship have the same volume. At the same time, each building's architectural layout is specific to its location and religious references. Credit Adjaye Associates

Roof plan Credit Adjaye Associates

His Holiness Francis Church features a forest of staggered vertical colonnades, as viewed from the exterior of the Abrahamic Family House complex from the north.

Photo: Dror Baldinger, Credit Adjaye Associates

His Holiness Francis Church interior features a pyramidal form of linear timber battens that hang above oak pews facing the altar.

Photo: Dror Baldinger, Credit Adjaye Associates 

Within His Holiness Francis Church, a marble altar, ambo, and tabernacle, as well as an oak credence table and three chairs sit on the sanctuary below the crucifix—a humanoid form with no indication of race or creed. 

Photo: Dror Baldinger, Credit Adjaye Associates

Suspended above the congregation in His Holiness Francis Church is a ceiling of timber battens that glow as sunlight enters the space. 

Photo: Dror Baldinger, Credit Adjaye Associates

Imam Al-Tayeb Mosque

The mosque faces Makkah.

Seven elongated arches on each side of the building reflect the significance of the number seven in Islam. The walls are covered with more than 470 operable panels of intricate latticework, depicting the mashrabiya - one of the most admired features of Islamic architecture - on a grand scale. The mashrabiya are designed to allow air circulation and , at the same time, regulate light and protect privacy.

The four pillars of the interior refer to the Islamic notion of stability, order and abundance attributed to the number four. Then the mosque has two external ablution rooms - one for male and one for female worshippers. The male ablution room is shaped like an inverted pyramid and the female ablution room like an inverted sphere. These shapes were built of concrete to convey a sense of heaviness and wonder as one prepares to worship.

The Imam Al-Tayeb Mosque is distinguished by its elongated arches, as viewed from the Abrahamic Family House’s raised garden.

Photo: Dror Baldinger, Credit Adjaye Associates

The two ablutions are screened by bronze gates that echo the arches that compose the exterior façade of the Imam Al- Tayeb Mosque; with a convex spherical ceiling above the space for performing wudu in the female ablution.

Photo: Dror Baldinger, Credit Adjaye Associates

Light filters through mashrabiya screens onto seamless colonnades in the Imam Al-Tayeb Mosque and illuminates the mihrab. 

Photo: Dror Baldinger, Credit Adjaye Associates

Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue

The synagogue faces Jerusalem.

Three layers of V-shaped columns refer to overlapping layers of palm fronds at the sukkah - a traditional prayer shelter used during Sukkot, the Jewish festival of refuge. The columns on each side of the building have seven points touching the floor and eight points touching the ceiling - seven being a representative symbol of man and eight of God in heaven.

From the central skylight on the ceiling hangs a bronze tent draped over the congregation, symbolising both the tent-like structure of the sukkah and the original tabernacle, which used a lot of bronze and oriented visitors towards the Torah. The daylight refracted in the colonnade and the suspended bronze net creates the effect of filtered light inside the synagogue, referencing the sunlight that falls through the palm fronds of the sukkah. The skylight allows a view of the stars at night and references the chuppah, a temporary structure used at Jewish weddings. The floor plan was designed to be as flexible as possible so that seating can be changed for both Sephardic and Ashkenazi congregations. The mikvah is a perfect quadrangle, where you walk around a central square basin and take each step on the way to the mikvah until you reach the basin. The construction of the mikvah required adherence to the religious regulations for the construction of a mikvah using modern construction methods.

Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue, viewed from the raised garden, features layered V-shaped columns that represent the overlapping palm fronds on the sukkah—a structure used during Sukkot, the Jewish festival of shelter.

Photo: Dror Baldinger, Credit Adjaye Associates

Three layers of concrete V-shaped columns surround the perimeter of the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue symbolizing the overlapping palm fronds on the sukkah. 

Photo: Dror Baldinger, Credit Adjaye Associates

Within the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue, a bronze mesh tent drapes from the ceiling’s central skylight, which allows mid-day sun and a view to the cosmos. 

Photo: Dror Baldinger, Credit Adjaye Associates

Light enters the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue through three layers of V-shaped columns and a bronze mesh tent which drapes over the congregation. 

Photo: Dror Baldinger, Credit Adjaye Associates

The Abrahamic Family House’s communal gardens is defined by planters, water features, and bench seating. 

Photo: Dror Baldinger, Credit Adjaye Associates

The fourth room

The fourth room, which does not belong to any particular religion, serves as a forum for all people. The raised garden is a goal in itself and creates a viewing platform from which to view all three religious structures, promoting a sense of harmony and connection and emphasising their individuality. 

Learn more:

abrahamicfamilyhouse.ae/

adjaye.com

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