Faith in the City: Symposium

Event information

A day of debate and discussion following Faith in the City's opening keynote lecture. The AF will host an afternoon of ideas and case studies of recent mosque and faith building design from across Europe, alongside a close investigation into historic precedents for the integration of minorities within the urban context and a suggestion of possible progressive future scenarios.

An exploration of the current contemporary moment and a platform for discussion of alternative ways in which architecture can give form to faith and aid in navigating the dynamics between organisations, communities and their neighbours; private practice and the public communication of belief.

The seminar sessions will look at the architects' struggle between tradition and modernity in mosque design, the role that architecture can play in integrating faith based minorities, the place of religion in a broadly secular Western urban fabric, and the differences between British, European and other Western contexts.

With contributors including:

- Michel Abboud, architect, Principal of SOMA; architectural consultants for New York's Park51 Islamic Cultural Centre
- Ergün Erkoçu, architect, author, and Creative Director, Concept 0031 (The Hague). Architect of the Polder Mosque (unrealised) and co-author of the book The Mosque: Political, Architectural and Social Transformations
- Foreign Architects Switzerland, a platform for alternative ideas, projects, and people; responsible for the post-minaret-ban ideas competition for an Islamic Centre in Zurich
- Lukas Feireiss, curator, writer, artist and editor, Studio Lukas Feireiss (Berlin). Editor of Closer To God: Religious Architecture and Sacred Spaces and Beyond Architecture: Imaginative Buildings and Fictional Cities
- Alen Jasarevic, architect and founder, Jasarevic Architekten (Mering, Germany); architects of the Penzberg Islamic Forum
- Ali Mangera, architect and founder, Mangera Yvars Architects (London/Barcelona); architects of the experimental, un-built and highly contested Abbey Mills Mosque, originally due to be located near the East London's Olympic site
- Ziauddin Sardar, writer, broadcaster, cultural critic, Visiting Professor, School of Arts, City University, London.

More participants TBC

Venue:
AF Project Space,
The Architecture Foundation,
Ground Floor East
136-148 Tooley Street
London
SE1 2TU

http://www.architecturefoundation.org.uk/programme/2010/faith-in-the-city-the-mosque-in-the-contemporary-urban-west/faith-in-the-city-symposium