AXIA Design

Al Falah Islamic Center
Oakville, Canada
2013 – 2014

Oakville, (ON) Canada

Project start: 2014

Status: Construction Documentation

Gross floor area: 2080m²

Client: ICNA Canada / Al Falah Islamic Centre

Architect: AXIA Design Associates

Project team: Chris Wong, Taymoore Balbaa, Mo Soroor, Ibrahim Brad Miles, Ayesha Moghal

Structural engineer: Blackwell Structural Engineers

Landscape architect: Large medium small Design office

Civil engineer: MTE Civil Engineers

MEP engineer: Racon Engineering Inc

 

Situated in Oakville, Ontario, the Al Falah Islamic Centre approached AXIA to substantially renovate and expand their mosque, in order to meet the growing needs of the Muslim population in the region and in the Greater Toronto Area. Set in a nondescript, pre-engineered steel warehouse, the original mosque has suffered from limitations in programming capacity and been deemed ripe for redevelopment and rejuvenation. But a central challenge that AXIA had to face was that the warehouse could not be demolished, due to zoning regulations. Thus, the aim was to embrace a strategy of adaptive reuse to breathe new life into the current building so that it would reflect an engaging, inclusive, more contemporary interpretation of Islam.

To this end, our design focuses on key archetypes. Notably, a dome roof — comprised of intricate metal latticework in a pattern that AXIA created based on Islamic themes — arches over a double-height space in the masjid (prayer hall), allowing soft sunlight to filter down into this calm, austere space. Elegantly arched windows and a crescent-topped minaret, made of limestone and copper, offer additional touches of Islamic identity. Respecting the tradition of providing a separate prayer space for women, the proposal includes a dedicated female entrance and secluded prayer area, protected from the sun by mashrabiya screens, the latticework now modernized through laser-cut aluminum panels with brass finish. A reflecting pool outside the prayer hall completes this sacred setting. A new ablution station is centrally positioned to avoid the need to reconfigure the water system.

Programmatic flexibility is offered by a moveable partition between the prayer hall and gymnasium. This allows for the multi-purpose space to accommodate various scales of events, from Sunday school and Koran studies to after-school athletic activities for children to large, communal celebrations marking religious holidays, as well as weddings.