Public mosque

This project is located in the South West State of Somalia in Baydhabo, this ambitious process started thanks to the will and effort of the client Munira Sharif Hassan, which wanted to give her contribute through her NGO (VOWACS) to the people of Somalia, through the creation of a community centre open to the public and completely for free.
The project was completely funded with the money of the client and is the first step of the construction of a huge project that will create the first community centre of Baydhabo.

The idea behind this project was to answer to the problem of the ventilation and the hot climate of the city without using glass or windows. In order to try to answer to this problem, I designed an interior courtyard and a porch to increase the liveability of the spaces and improve the ventilation. Before starting to design anything I did research about the old traditional buildings of Somalia and the traditional uses of the spaces in order to try to bring back to the future the old knowledge according to with the possibilities of the materials of the city. The whole project was very complicated especially for the lack of materials and possibilities, but thank to the amazing workers and the collaboration of the community we was able to build the same project that I designed.

The mosque is designed to have all the spaces divided and independent in order to give privacy and hierarchy to the different areas. In fact, the prayer room despite the perception that the visitor can have from outside is completely divided from the other areas by a second door. The complex as showing on the general plan will host also a room with the double function of duxii and school for kids and adult, in order to give the space not only for the religious education but also for academic education.