"Innocent houses of worship or bulwarks of fundamentalism? We all have our own ideas about mosques, and many of those ideas go beyond the domain of architecture. In Europe, mosques are a central issue in the debates about the integration of Muslims and the potential dangers of Islam. In recent years, such debates have often edged out serious architectural discussion of European mosques, and the domes and minarets of traditional mosque architecture have come to symbolize this entire field of controversy." "The aim of this book is to bring greater depth and nuance to the debate about mosques. Amongst others politician Frits Bolkestein, architect Wilfried van Winden, sociologist Willem Schinkel, theologist/philosopher Tariq Ramadan, anthropologist Eric Roose and Ole Bouman, director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute, share their interdisciplinary perspectives on the emergence of this new architectural typology and explain its narrow and broad social impact. With a visual presentation of the historical and general features of the mosque (Mosguide), as well as three intriguing pictorial essays and a range of politically and socially informed essays and opinion pieces, Erkocuen Budac rethink the meaning of mosques in the Western European context. Recent mosque designs serve to illustrate how rewarding this approach can be - in social, functional and architectural terms."--Jacket.
Introduction: Ergün Erkoçu and Cihan Buğdaci in cooperation with Mieke Dings -- Beyond 'us and them' -- Mosguide intro / Peter Zuiderwijk -- Why do people suddenly like mosques when they're on Holiday? -- Ornaments of humanity / Frits Bolkestein -- For whom do we build mosques: the users or the critics? -- Interior/exterior / Dick Barendsen -- Back to first principles / Tariq Ramadan -- If a new variety of mosques can promote greater understanding, then why not build it? Throw open the doors! / Shervin Nekuee -- From mosque to religious complex with shops ... how far do we want to go? -- The contemporary mosque / Nebahat Avcioc̆lu -- How can we shatter the stereotype without creating new ones? -- The production of marginality / Willem Schinkel -- When will we move the mosque from the margins to the heart of society? -- Freedom equals happiness / Wilfried Van Winden -- Everyday / Dick Barendsen -- How can we capture a society's diverse identities in a single style? -- Counteracting the clash of cultures / Roemer Van Toorn -- Regional identity and 'conflicting consensus': recipes for Architecture? -- Mosque design and Muslim Patrons in the Netherlands / Eric Roose -- Is it the architect's job to make the client aware of the needs to the target group and new concepts in mosque design? -- Generative design principles for the contemporary mosque / Azra Aks̆amija -- From Construction site to mosque / Christian Van Der Kooy -- Flexibility and astounding beauty: the ingredients for new concepts in mosque design? -- Mosguide outro / Ergün Erkoçu and Cihan Buğdaci in cooperation with Mieke Dings.