name: Golshar plaza-mosque. year:2017. client: Haj Tarakhan competition. situation: Gold Mention

The Golshahr Plaza-Mosque project is a critical and inquisitive encounter, within which history, space, and politics are liberated from their imposed and established logics.

In this project, the mosque primarily acts as an intermediary space, a meeting point of the sacred and contemporary life.

Within this redefinition, traditional mosque elements such as the dome and prayer hall (shabestan) are no longer static symbols restricted to mere repetition; instead, they become connective spaces and intermediary elements reflecting dynamic processes.

The semi-open dome does not merely symbolize the sky, but actively serves as a tangible intermediary between earth and sky, guiding a continuous flow of air and natural light into the interior.

Similarly, the prayer hall surpasses its conventional role as a confined space for worship, evolving into a dynamic area for diverse social interactions, continuously connected to the urban and academic environment. In this configuration, the mosque acts as a porous and fluid boundary, facilitating ongoing dialogue and mediation between everyday life and the sacred.

The concept of polyphony in this project goes beyond merely acknowledging diversity; it embodies an ontology of plurality, creating a space where not just multiple voices, but multiple worlds and narratives coexist.

This polyphony shapes the project’s internal logic, transforming it into a network of free and creative interactions that continually redefine relationships to identity, culture, and the surrounding world.

Thus, the Golshahr Plaza-Mosque project is neither a simplistic return to tradition nor a total rupture from it; rather, it represents a dialectical process where space, identity, and meaning are perpetually reconstructed and redefined within a dynamic, multifaceted interplay.

 In this reinterpretation, the plaza is no longer merely an instrument of authority or a site representing an unequal power relationship; rather, it transforms into an active, fluid spatial network whose internal logic arises from the multiplicity and free interaction of its citizens.

Historically, plazas have consistently served as focal points for exercising governance, social control, and the forced organization of crowds.

 However, this project seeks to break from such history, redefining the plaza as a decentralized and multifaceted space shaped freely by public participation.

Accordingly, the godal baghche spaces, inspired by the logic of traditional market layouts, emerge not merely as physical units, but as multiple spatial narratives.

 Each piece within this spatial configuration acts as a dynamic element continuously reorganizing social and cultural interactions, presenting them through a fluid network of daily and spontaneous exchanges.