Building to be naturally lit throughout the year and heated and cooled using energy from local ground-source heat pumps
Architect Marks Barfield has been appointed to design a new mosque in Cambridge.
The firm was appointed by the Muslim Academic Trust, and will work in association with architectural academic Professor Keith Critchlow.
The structure will rise to a maximum height of three storeys above ground level and will be in consistent with the height and scale of the surrounding built environment.
Its design has been developed from the concept of an oasis, with “trees” set out on a large grid, which will form the structure of the mosque. The oasis concept will be enhanced across the site with about 20 new cypress trees, creating a new permeable green edge around the building. Its facade will be completed in brick.
The design also includes green features. It will be lit naturally throughout the year, and will be heated and cooled using energy efficient and locally generated energy from ground-source heat pumps.
Speaking on behalf of the trust, chairman Tim Winter said the mosque would be “truly inclusive, sustainable, safe, secure and respectful of the neighbourhood”.
“It will be a landmark building,” he added, “which the local and wider Cambridge community can be proud.”
The project team will consult local stakeholder groups in the process of preparing the detailed scheme and planning application in 2010. The balance of the funding for the £13m project is being sought from a number of donors and sponsors.
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