Al-Kawthar Mosque
Architect: Abdul Mohsen Kodmani
Year: 1965
City: Damascus, Syria
Building use: Religious
Status: built
Team: structural engineer: Adnan Showeky
05 the alter facing the Qiblah or the direction of prayer towards the Kaʿbah in Mecca, which in Syria is southwards.
06 Contrary to the original design, the executed windows are divided into thirds both horizontally and vertically by large structural beams.
07 [Bassel Kodmani, “…The oppositely curved walls provide illumination that prevents direct sunlight from reaching the faces of worshippers, Additionally, the southern windows provide heat load movement that automatically enables air circulation” A Post Discussing Al-Kawthar Mosque’s Design (translated), November 11, 2018, LINK.]
Al-Kawthar Mosque was designed by Syrian Architect Abdul Mohsen Kodmani between 1965 and 1968.01 It is located in a residential area in AlMazze district, then a recently established urban area known as ‘New Damascus’. The building site is sloped, bordered by a garden to the south, and surrounded by evergreen trees.
Al-Kawthar Mosque is notable for its modern concept that broke from design conventions for mosques. It was the first mosque that used wide-span concrete frames in the country.02 But it was perhaps more groundbreaking for featuring a simple but unique mass and none of the elements typically associated with Islamic architecture.
It featured no arches or domes, as the architect perceived them simply as structural elements used to cover large spans in traditional buildings, and therefore unnecessary in his design due to the use of wide-span concrete frames. The design was, therefore, met with initial resistance from the mosque’s committee.03
The unusual shape of the building, which according to the architect was designed to resemble praying hands when viewed from the south,04 has a rectangular base and a trapezoid-shaped roof sloping towards the north with its southern corners extending outward, reaching 14 meters above ground level at its highest point. The walls of the southern and northern façades are inclined; the southern façade is inclined inwards and features a protruding Mihrab,05 while the main façade to the north is inclined backward and preceded by a raised patio leading to the entrance. This patio is also connected by a few steps to a smaller, semi-enclosed patio covered by a canopy and positioned between two cuboids that are attached to the main façade on either side of the entrance.
The mosque is comprised of three floors: a semi-underground floor, a ground floor, and a mezzanine floor. It has two entrances: the main entrance to the north at ground level and a secondary entrance to the west at the lower level, which is supported by a grid of columns. The ground floor is mostly an open space supported by concrete frames, save for a single row of columns that supports the mezzanine overlooking the main praying hall near the entrance. The use of space frames in the interior eliminated the need for structural columns due to their large spans, so unlike in conventional mosques where columns could often block the worshipers’ view of the Khatib (preacher), the praying hall in Al-Kawthar Mosque was an open space with no visual obstructions.
01 Omran Kodmani, interview by AMASyria, Damascus, February 14, 2021.
02 Kodmani, interview.
03 Kodmani, interview.
04 [Bassel Kodmani, “As for the idea of the project or the concept as some would like to name it… I asked my Father, may God rest his soul, why he chose this form. As his response, he asked me what prayer was, and I said that prayer was Du’a’ (a call or plea to God). He said, “Have you ever contemplated what you look like when raising your hands for the Du’a’?” I told him it never crossed my mind. He said, “Look at the southern facade and you will find the answer.” Then he continued, “My son, the worst thing about mosques are the columns that block the rows and prevent the sight of the Khatib (preacher); space frames span great distances that cancel the use of columns…” A Post Discussing Al-Kawthar Mosque’s Design (translated), November 11, 2018, LINK.]
The western and eastern façades are identical, with each having three rows of large windows equipped with vertical shaders that take up most of the façade.06 In contrast, the southern façade has a single row of windows at its uppermost end. The northern façade has no openings, save the bottom windows on all sides of the building which provide adequate lighting for the semi-underground floor.
Al-Kawthar Mosque was built using reinforced concrete with a Spray Concrete finish. According to the architect, the design of the northern and southern walls enhanced the structural performance of the building, reducing the required metal reinforcement. Furthermore, the architect highlighted several additional benefits of the design: the pyramidal form of the building effectively dampened echoes within the praying hall, and the oppositely inclined walls allowed the space to be softly illuminated without having direct sunlight affecting worshipers, while the southern windows provided passive air circulation within the hall through convection.07
Unfortunately, the construction of the Mosque deviated from the original design in several aspects, such as apparent differences in the shapes and sizes of windows, as well as the omission of a circular skylight that was present in the original design and may have been scrapped in later drafts, but the most significant departure by far was seen in the minaret. Approximately 21 meters high, it originally consisted of an extruded rectangular plan and contained a long opening that got narrower towards the bottom. It was substituted with a more conventional design that appeared out of place next to the mosque,08 but was nevertheless described by historian Kutaiba Shihabi as “a modern style minaret.”09
08 based on original design documents
09 قتيبة شهابي، مآذن دمشق: تاريخ وطراز (دمشق، الجمهورية العربية السورية: وزارة الثقافة، 1993).
[Kutaiba Shihabi, Damascene Minarets: History and Style (Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic: Ministry of culture, 1993).]
01 Omran Kodmani, interview by AMASyria, Damascus, February 14, 2021.
02 Kodmani, interview.
03 Kodmani, interview.
04 [Bassel Kodmani, “As for the idea of the project or the (concept) as some would like to name it… I asked my Father, may God rest his soul, why he chose this form. As his response, he asked me what prayer was, and I said that prayer was Du’a’ (a call or plea to God). He said, “have you ever contimplated what you look when raising your hands for the Du’a’?” I told him it never crossed my mind. He said, “Look at the southern facade and you will find the answer.” Then he continued, “My son, the worst thing about mosques are the columns that block the rows and prevent the sight of the Khatib (preacher); space frames span great distances that cancel the use of columns…” A Post Discussing Al-Kawthar Mosque’s Design (translated), November 11, 2018, LINK.]
05 the alter facing the Qiblah or the direction of prayer towards the Kaʿbah in Mecca, which in Syria is southwards.
06 Contrary to the original design, the executed windows are divided into thirds both horizontally and vertically by large structural beams.
07 [Bassel Kodmani, “…The oppositely curved walls provide illumination that prevents direct sunshine reaching the faces of worshippers, Addittionaly, the southern windows provide heat load movement that automatically enables air circulation” A Post Discussing Al-Kawthar Mosque’s Design (translated), November 11, 2018, LINK.]
08 based on original design documents
09 قتيبة شهابي، مآذن دمشق: تاريخ وطراز (دمشق، الجمهورية العربية السورية: وزارة الثقافة، 1993).
[Kutaiba Shihabi, Damascene Minarets: History and Style (Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic: Ministry of culture, 1993).]
