ripple effect

Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro for Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser of Qatar, a new women's mosque in. Doha champions a spiritual and educational model for the wider Islamic world

- SAM COCHRAN

Every morning in Doha, just before dawn, a cluster of mechanized speakers rise from the base of one especially extraordinary minaret-a column seemingly afloat, supported by a system of cables and wrapped in lattice. Upon reaching the top, the audio equipment plays a live or recorded call to prayer before descending to its resting position. That sequence repeats four more times throughout the day as Muslim women gather at Al-Mujadilah, a new mosque, library, and education center designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Founded by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chairperson of the nonprofit Qatar Foundation, the building is being heralded as a contemporary first of its kind: a purposebuilt mosque exclusively for women. Located on Doha's Education City campus, it serves not only as a place of observance but as a forum for learning.

(Al-Mujadilah refers to a woman in dialogue.) "I founded Al-Mujadilah to nurture the next generation of Muslim women to seek the answers to contemporary challenges from within the vast knowledge contained in our religion," says Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser. "I wanted it to be a place of beauty and tranquility that would facilitate learning and contemplation." Its design more than meets that mandate, blending abstraction and tradition to achieve a place that is both awe-inspiring and inviting.