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Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Eskandari speaks on American mosques
Former Associate Director of the American Institute of Architects Maryam Eskandari discussed the roles of gender, architectural functionality and modernity in a public lecture before an audience of about 25 on Wednesday night.
Eskandari, who is currently working on a post-professional degree in modern Islamic architecture in the West, said that her inspiration started with an interest in American mosques.
While American mosques seem to be at risk, following a trend in Europe to ban the minaret and the Ground Zero controversy, Eskandari noted that American mosques have been supported in the past by figures like Eisenhower and Rockefeller.
“Eisenhower stated that this mosque was part of a rich tradition,” Eskandari said. Years later, when funding fell short for a new mosque, “Rockefeller stepped in and paid $1 million for a minaret.”
From the first major American mosque, designed by Mario Rossi in 1949, to the high point of American mosques in 1980, to the current 1,500 mosques that exist throughout the country, American mosques have experienced a transition from more traditional architecture to postmodern designs.
Rossi’s mosque was commissioned to honor a Turkish ambassador who had died in Washington, D.C., and, like most of the mosques of its time, it was very nostalgic of traditional architecture.
Park51, on the other hand, was designed to be very clean-cut and modern — and despite all the controversy that surrounded its location near Ground Zero — was intended to signal unity among different faiths.
“It was supposed to bring the three Abrahamic faiths together, and it had a very postmodern, contemporary style of architecture,” Eskandari said.
While Eskandari described the push for an end to American mosques as an external force, she also described the internal force of gender equality within mosques.
Read More: Daily Princetonian
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Islam in Conversation Series
FALL 2011
Islam in America Ten Years After 9/11
Lecture & Conversation with Imam Feisal Abdul-Rauf, author of What’s Right with Islam, Is What’s Right with America and leading advocate of Park 51 Islamic Center in NYC near Ground Zero. Co-sponsored with American Whig Cliosophic Society and Muslim Students Association.
Monday, September 19 | 4.30 pm | Whig Hall, Senate Chamber
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Designing Sacred Spaces in the Modern World
a lunchtime conversation with Maryam Eskandari
Wednesday, October 19 | 12.30 pm | Campus Club Library
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American Mosques & Muslim Identity: Debating Gender, Form, and Architecture
Lecture & conversation with Maryam Eskandari, an architect and a graduate of the Aga Khan Program in Islamic Architecture at Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a focus on modern and contemporary “Islamic” Architecture in the West.
Wednesday, October 19 | 7.30 pm | Peyton Hall, 145
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Fear, Inc.: Islamophobia & The Challenge to American Pluralism
Lecture & conversation with Wajahat Ali, one of the authors of Fear, Inc.: The Roots of The Islamophobia Network in America , a revealing expose produced by the Center for American Progress.
Wednesday, November 30 | 4.30 pm | Robertson Hall, Bowl 1
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Toward a More Perfect Union: Religion, Democracy, & Ethical Citizenship
A wide ranging conversation between Dr. Ingrid Mattson—Director of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at the Hartford Theological Seminary, author of The Story of the Qur’an , and former president of the Islamic Society of North America—and Dr. Jeffery Stout—esteemed professor of religion at Princeton University and author most recently of Blessed are the Organized: Grassroots Democracy in America .
Wednesday, December 7 | 4.30 pm | McCormick Hall, 101
Monday, September 26, 2011
A Decade of Designing a Muslim-American Identity
September 10, 2011 | Maryam Eskandari
This weekend, the world marks the tenth anniversary of the horrific events of September 11th. This tragedy pushed the Muslim American community to the forefront, forcing us to discover who we are, as a collective. This grueling process of defining identity can be traced through architectural designs where various attributes have been explored. From the relatively unknown Islamic inspired architecture of the World Trade Center, to the Islamic Center in Manhattan, we start to see not only a pattern of expression, but also a community coming into our own.
The World Trade Center in New York, an iconic masterpiece stood majestically around 1300 feet high. Designed by Minoru Yamasaki, an architect praised for merging modernism with Islamic architecture, recreated Mecca’s courtyard within the busy Financial District claiming the World Trade Center’s plaza was, “a Mecca, a great relief from the narrow streets and sidewalks of the surrounding Wall Street area.” Three decades ago, Yamasaki, the desired designer of the 1970’s, was commissioned for his ability to merge Islamic and postmodern design, an amalgamation of defining a renowned form of architecture. He was applauded for his innovation.
Friday, July 08, 2011
48th Annual ISNA Convention: Loving God, Loving Neighbor, Living in Harmony
Friday July 01, 2011
Islam, Pluralism and Social Harmony
Description: America finds itself at a crossroads with a financial crisis at home and war abroad. At every critical juncture in history, social movements—from civil rights to anti-war—have brought people of all races and creeds together around common values and aspirations. This session will offer reflections on the collective movement that is needed for our times, and the sacred place of love and non-violence in realizing the call for social harmony in a pluralistic society.
Speakers: Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf
Ingrid Mattson
John Esposito
Zaid Shakir
Saturday July 02, 2011
Role of Islamic Tradition in Addressing Contemporary Challenges-Conversation Between Tariq Ramadan and John Esposito
Speakers: Tariq Ramadan
John Esposito
Sunday July 03, 2011
Inclusive Mosques in the 21st Century
Description: When we create sacred spaces that affirm human dignity, we acknowledge the spiritual potential of all who enter. The inclusive mosque synthesizes our architectural legacy, recognizes the contributions of women and welcomes those seeking answers. This session presents steps to ensure mosques are places that give life to strong, loving communities that stand against injustice.
Speakers: Akel Kahera
Maryam Eskandari
Aisha Al-Adawiya
Thursday, July 07, 2011
Sacred Space: Islamic Architecture 2.0
July 1, 2011 | Illume Magazine
Maryam Eskandari interview with ILLUME Magazine
How did you become interested in architecture and why is it important?
I was introduced to architecture through my paternal grandfather. Each summer I would spend time with him in Iran, and got acquainted with the world of construction and architecture. He started off with a few lessons of drawing the living room, gradually we moved towards outdoors and by the end of the summer, he had me designing and I help him redo the interior of his house. That summer I was 15 years old and I knew I wanted to be an architect.
read more of the interview at ILLUME
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Sacred Space for Muslim Americans
Front Cover of New York's Elan magazine
Mosques have been a reason for intense debates both within the Muslim community and outside of it. Maryam Eskandari, an architect at the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard and MIT, currently has a traveling exhibit on American Mosques. She brings a new angle to the debate discussing the role of architecture as an identity issue. Her exhibit, Sacred Space: (Re)Constructing the Place of Gender in the Space of Religion is touring the nation. We sat down with the architect and artist for an interview.
How did you choose this topic for your exhibit?
This “mosque” project actually started 5 years ago when I was working on another project in Seattle Washington. It was during the holy month of Ramadan. I got an opportunity to engage with the Muslims in Seattle, in which they commissioned my firm to design their mosque. During the design process, we constantly were confronted with, allocating an accurate space for the performance of prayers. It is amazing to see how emotional people get when the issue of space is discussed. What was fascinating to see is how this particular community was able to come together during their mosque project. From my first mosque, it led me to numerous projects for the various Muslim communities throughout the States. However, one project was confronted with a huge obstacle. While we were designing, and going through case studies of various mosques in the states, we started to realize that as Muslims, we do not necessarily have an identity, an American Muslim identity, when it comes to mosques, while other countries---particularly in the Middle East do. So the questioning of identity and gender kept coming up in the design projects. That was when finally last summer; the Aga Khan Program in Islamic Architecture funded my research to visit 32 American Mosques that reside in a highly dense Muslim population across the US. However, while engaged in the project, it lead to over 100 mosques and it still continues. We were able to capture the history, space, and architecture of each mosque, along with the stories that either the community would share with us, or our own adventures that we had.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Bringing the Pilgrims to Qom
March 25, 2011 | Maryam Eskandari
featured in PBS|Frontline - Tehran BureauIslamic Republic's push to develop Shia holy city as a top Middle Eastern destination.
[ dispatch ] Since the early 16th century, during the Safavid dynasty, the holy city of Qom has been a significant center of Shia theological education and a locus of pilgrimage. Recently, its development has become a top priority for the Islamic Republic of Iran. Over the past eight years, Iran has been expanding Qom, not only as an "Islamic Education Center," in competition with other such cities such as Najaf, Iraq, but with the goal of making it one of the major destinations in the Middle East.
After the late 1700s, when the city flourished as a center of religious learning under Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, little attention was paid to its development for more than century. However, in 1915, when invading Russian forces entered the nearby city of Karaj, many residents of Tehran province moved to Qom, spurring its growth into one of the region's major metropolitan areas. Consideration was even given to shifting the Iranian capital from Tehran to Qom. Over the past six years, under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a vast amount of development money has been flowing into the city.
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