Glenn Murcutt and Elevli Plus
The Australian Islamic Centre in Newport, an inner-west suburb of Melbourne, eschews the architectural strategy of most recent mosques built in Australia – it features none of the readily recognizable signifiers of dome, pointed arches and minarets that typically signal “mosque” in urban peripheries around the country. Instead it confidently assumes a cool, contemporary language of glass and concrete, enlivened with pools and a surprising roofscape of gold-painted sheet-metal lanterns.
The architects of the complex are Glenn Murcutt and Hakan Elevli. In my meeting with Elevli, he notes that it was Murcutt who “took the community on a journey” that resulted in such a radical design. It was also Murcutt who questioned how necessary the conventions were and who found alternatives and realized them in a contemporary manner.
Thus, instead of a minaret, the symbol of the crescent moon is held aloft
