A mosque in Singapore is a sort of community centre, housing a madrasah, conference halls, social spaces and offices plus the main prayer hall, used day and night. The madrasah extension maximises to the limit what the planning authorities can allow – 4 storeys and a basement.
The most important is the existing prayer hall with its prominent fan-shaped roof. The architects’ choices; to enhance its independence or reverentially engulfing it? Their choice is the latter – flaring open the ends of the corridors of the new block and stretching its new staircases to enwrap the old hall. The staircases flanking the opposite ends of the new block are expressed as sturdy towers, and portals of the new wing. The widened ends of the corridors are also used as external spaces of the classrooms…
