Designed by Dar Arafa Architecture, The Basuna Mosque is located in the hot & arid village of Basuna, Sohag, Egypt, over a site amidst a noisy, dusty and densely constructed area with encroaching residential buildings, a cemetery, cattle frequently moving back and forth on the road and a weekly makeshift small market right outside the main entrance of this place of worship posed a major challenge. The new building must offer peace and tranquillity for its users and so a few requirements had to be met.
Photography: Essam Arafa
The solution depends on a cavity-wall with only one window, overlooking the calm cemetery, covered with a hybrid roof system; consisting of a concrete beam gridiron, cast in situ, forming a central square (6.0×6.0m) covered with a main dome, and 108 smaller square openings (0.82 x 0.82m) partially covered using pendentive-domes, complemented with fixed horizontal and operable vertical glass panels allowing fresh high-altitude northern breeze to filter into the mosque, indirect glare-less sunlight to naturally illuminate the interior, and rain-water to be collected and used for cleaning and watering plants. Photography: Essam Arafa
The main dome was constructed using an Egyptian-made light block made of sand, lime and air, with a density of 0.5 ton/m3, thermal conductivity 0.136-0.132 W/m2.°K, fire rating (relative to thickness) 4-7 hours, sound insulation (dB) 37-48. The remarkable lightness of the block decreased the building?s own-weight, i...