Sacred room.

This new mosque under construction in central Johannesburg draws strongly on traditional forms to express spiritual and social continuity.

Islam has existed in South Africa for over 300 years, since the importation of slaves from the Indian subcontinent and Malaysia in the seventeenth century. Since then its influence has held steady. In Johannesburg, the Muslim community lived harmoniously and prosperously in the city centre until forcibly exiled to segregated settlements in the 'Indian' township of Lenasia, as part of the grand apartheid plan. Through this diaspora, cultural, economic and physical frameworks were abruptly dismantled. The great new Jumah Masgied (a masgied is a mosque), still under painstaking construction in the heart of Johannesburg's Central Business District, goes some way to reestablishing the spiritual identity of the Muslim community.

The site nudges into the edge of Bank City, a vaultingly ambitious redevelopment of four entire city blocks and the largest commercial project ever undertaken in South Africa. Within Johannesburg's finely grained grid (originating from the formalisation of nineteenth-century mining camps) the scale of the surroundings is daunting. The presence of a mosque among the rampant forces of Mammon might seem incongruous, but the new building invokes a strong historical precedent, as the Kerk Street site has been used for a mosque since 1870. The first formal structure was built over 75 years ago, but inadequate facilities and structural collapse led to the commissioning of the current building, designed by Muhammad Mayet, a former student of Abdel Wahed El-Wakil.

Mayet has drawn deeply and reflectively on the traditional disciplines of Islamic sacred art and architecture to produce a building that embodies spiritual constancy and social focus. The urge to express a sense of permanence and acknowledge the universality of sacred truth is perhaps understandable when viewed in the context of South Africa's convulsive societal evolution. During the years of apartheid, organised religion (of all denominations) became highly politicised through concerted opposition to the regime.

The external walls of the new mosque follow the existing line of the street boundaries. Within this enclosure, the immense cubic prayer hall is slightly skewed off the grid to orientate it towards Mecca. The directional axis is emphasised by the main dome on the north side, raised on a drum that filters light into the interior directly above the mihrab. The prayer hall consists of arches on pillars, with segmental arches on segmental vaults running parallel to the qibla wall on the east side. The prayer hall is raised on a piano nobile above the street, entered by sets of stairs on the north side.

The building has a strong elemental quality, articulated through a vocabulary of traditional forms. Domes, squinches, pendentives, fan vaults and cross vaults combine to create a renewed awareness of historical possibilities. The massive structure is composed entirely of load-bearing brick, which also helps to keep the interior blissfully cool due to its high thermal mass. The masonry technique of free corbelling and the ancient art of muqarnas stalactite design is rediscovered for the purposes of detailing the spindly minaret balcony. The design, ornamentation and detailing of all spaces is intended to enhance a sense of history and sanctity, creating an appropriate ambience for meditation and prayer in the heart of the city.