"Biennale" The final list of competitors for the 2027 Al Musalla Prize is announced
The Diriyah Biennial Foundation announced the names of the four architectural offices that qualified for the final stage of the “Musalla Prize 2027”, which is considered An international architectural competition to design a space dedicated to prayer and meditation within the third session of the Islamic Arts Biennale, scheduled to open on November 1, 2027.
The final list includes the “Al-Jawad Pike” office from the United Kingdom, “Civil Architecture” from Bahrain and Kuwait, “Million” from the United States of America, in addition to the “New South” office from France.
Contemporary architectural visions for spaces Prayer
The award is intended, which The Foundation launched it for the first time in 2024, to explore contemporary architectural visions for spaces designated for prayer, through designs that take into account functional and spiritual requirements and respond to urban and cultural variables.
According to the Foundation, the nominated offices were asked to develop a unified architectural vision for a prayer hall that is adaptable to two different sites; The first is in the Western Hajj Terminal at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, and the second is in the Jax neighborhood in Diriyah, taking into account the different spatial characteristics of each location.
The CEO of the Diriyah Biennial Foundation, Aya Al-Bakri, said that the award comes within The Foundation’s efforts to explore the potential of architecture in developing cultural and community spaces, noting that the current session witnessed the participation of designs that reflect geographical and intellectual diversity in approaches to designing spaces for prayer and meditation.
She added that the award has received international attention since its launch, and has contributed to highlighting contemporary architectural models that are inspired by Islamic heritage and respond at the same time to the needs of modern societies.
Conditions for designs and project evaluation
Each office is expected to present The qualified offices have a different vision for dealing with the challenges of designing prayer spaces, by employing the concepts of sustainability, functional flexibility, and connection to the cultural and urban context of the site.
The peculiarity of the current session is the requirement to design a single architectural project that can be implemented in two different locations, which distinguishes it from the first edition of the award, which focused on designing a “mobile prayer hall” that can be dismantled and installed.
The submitted projects are scheduled to be subject to evaluation by a specialized jury. Headed by Prince Nawaf bin Abdulaziz bin Ayyaf, CEO of the Architecture and Design Authority, and with the participation of specialists in the fields of architecture, sustainability and the history of Islamic architecture.
Connection to the Islamic architectural heritage
Prince Nawaf bin Abdulaziz bin Ayyaf explained that the award poses an architectural challenge represented in achieving a balance between the functional and symbolic dimensions of prayer spaces, while providing design solutions that respond to the requirements of the present and at the same time maintain their connection to the architectural heritage.
The terms of the competition stipulate that the area of the prayer hall should not exceed 20 x 20 metres, with a maximum height of 12 metres, with the possibility of dismantling it and reassembling it in its permanent location in the Jax neighborhood in Diriyah after the end of the Biennale period.
The winning design is scheduled to be announced in March 2027, with the opening of the prayer hall coinciding with the start of the third session of the Islamic Arts Biennale in November of the year. Same.
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