An Analysis of the Originality of Contemporary Mosques in the Islamic World

The main aim of the research is to recognize the criteria of the authenticity of contemporary mosques based on the obtained criteria. Recognizing the originality to improve the development process of mosques and modeling for the design of future mosques or their development plan.

The research method is the identification and extraction of indicators, reasoning, and analysis of examples using the opinions of a focused group of experts, and scoring based on indicators.

The characteristics of the authenticity of the mosques were set in two dimensions, content and body. Content characteristics, such as the use of familiar historical symbols and elements of nature (light and water) as well as respect for community and human privacy and the symbolic divine dimensions of the space to express the sacred nature of mosques. It includes the user pattern and the exact type of structure. In none of these cases should one judge the superiority of the past or today with prejudice, but rather the criterion of its comprehensive usefulness in the mental and physical benefit of the audience.

The analyses show the differences and commonalities of the factors of the authenticity of the mosque. Mosques that had more body manifestation in content aspect at the general of the design of the mosque, were more original. But mosques that have emphasized symbols in terms of content, and they had a weak manifestation of content in the body, were in the middle category. Also, merely sustainable architecture, emphasizing the transformation of symbolic forms and deconstruction in the design, regardless of the content dimensions, has not increased the originality.