Punchbowl Mosque

by Angelo Candalepas and Associates

Client Private

Award RIBA International Awards for Excellence 2024

Punchbowl Mosque 1 Brett Boardmanjpg — Punchbowl Mosque © Brett Boardman

A profoundly moving sacred space, magically conjured up in the everyday setting of a Sydney residential suburb.

Carefully inserted into a small plot in a residential suburb of Sydney, this new mosque forms one side of a courtyard which will ultimately be further enclosed by a school and community hall.

The modesty of the site however belies the scale of the architectural ambition. For what has been created here is a remarkable and profoundly moving space, contained on two sides by an extraordinary sequence of concrete coffers, or mini-domes, corbelling out one above the other. On the opposite diagonal, a circular and layered opening in the concrete roof reveals a timber dome floating above a ribbon of natural light.

A clear and compact plan defines the route taken by the worshippers from the street, first through a sequence of external courtyards, then through a skilfully rooflit space for ablutions, and finally into the interior of the mosque itself, with its simple, square configuration.

Here, however, the axis shifts on to the square’s diagonal, reorientating the mosque towards the east, and moving the worshipper’s focus onto the angled walls of concrete coffers that rise up on either side. The concave surface of each coffer is inscribed with golden calligraphy.

Conceived in 2011, and completed on time and on budget in 2021, the mosque is constructed of in situ concrete throughout. This is important because the resulting mass of the structure gives the building a level of thermal stability. There is no requirement for mechanical air conditioning, thereby reducing running costs: fresh air is introduced into the main space at a low level and drawn out at high level.

The simple, robust materiality of the design is also intended to ensure the building’s longevity.

In order to reduce the embodied carbon of the structure, however, the mosque adopted a new low-carbon, high-fly ash concrete, one of the first buildings in Australia to do so: fly ash is a waste product derived from the steel manufacturing process.

Externally the concrete is subtly sculpted to direct the visitor towards the entrance where carefully detailed timber doors lead into the interior.

Entirely modern in its use of material and in its formal and spatial manipulation, the Punchbowl Mosque nevertheless seems to take its place confidently within the tradition of Muslim architecture. And although principally, and manifestly, designed to celebrate and intensify the experience of worship, the mosque also serves the wider community as a venue for meetings, festivals and events, and is already enormously valued locally for its openness and inclusivity.

Location: Sydney, Australia

Date of completion: 19/03/2021

Cost: Confidential

Gross internal area: 4258 m²

Contractor: Infinity Constructions Group

Structural Engineer: Taylor Thomson Whitting Group

Structural Engineer: Wood and Grieve Engineers

Principal Certifying Authority: Blackett Maguire and Goldsmith

Hydraulic Engineers: Jones Nicholson

Mechanical / Electrical Engineers: Jones Nicholson

Landscape Architect: Taylor Brammer Landscape Architects

Access Consultant: Accessibility Solutions (NSW)