Glenn Murcutt: Architecture of Faith
Glenn Murcutt: Architecture of Faith is a unique exhibition that explores the new Australian Islamic Centre in Newport, Victoria, designed by world-renowned Australian architect Glenn Murcutt AO in collaboration with Hakan Elevli of Melbourne practice Elevli Plus.
Murcutt, Australia’s most internationally celebrated architect, has devoted nearly a decade to the project, working with Elevli and the Newport Islamic Council to create a contemporary Australian mosque and Islamic centre.
The building, its roof studded with multi-coloured glass lanterns and without the traditional minaret or dome, challenges assumptions of historical Islamic architecture and puts forward a new architectural language for Australian Islam.
Glenn Murcutt: Architecture of Faith reveals the history, process and people behind the Australian Islamic Centre through 200 original sketches by Murcutt, architectural drawings and plans, photography, scale models, life-size building elements and documentary footage.
Tony Ellwood, Director, NGV said: ‘Architecture of Faith allows visitors to understand Murcutt’s unique and multilayered design approach through the lens of one project, from original inception sketches to photographs of the near-finished building.’
‘The Australian Islamic Centre is a significant building and one deserving of closer examination. This exhibition explores the project from multiple perspectives to reveal the contribution that architecture can make to a community and its ability to foster intercultural understanding.’
The Australian Islamic Centre, which is due to open in late 2016, has involved significant consultation with local Islamic architects, Imams and community leaders and, importantly, been funded and built by the local community.
While respecting the fundamental principles and requirements of Islamic architecture, Murcutt and Elevli have pushed beyond the symbolic language of the traditional mosque, reimagining its geometry, colours, materiality and spatial organisation to create an accessible and contemporary place of worship, learning and community.
Glenn Murcutt: Architecture of Faith is on display at NGV Australia from 9 August 2016 – 19 February 2017. Open daily, 10am-5pm. Entry is free.
PUBLIC PROGRAM
Conversation: Building the Australian Islamic Centre Sat 13 August, 2pm Designed by architects Glenn Murcutt AO and Hakan Elevli of Elevli Plus, and funded and built over 10 years by the Newport Islamic community, the Australian Islamic Centre is perhaps the first truly contemporary Australian mosque. By respectfully recalibrating historical Islamic design conventions for Australian cultural and climatic conditions, this project heralds a new community-led interpretation of the mosque as a place of worship, education and recreation. The brief developed by the Newport community was for ‘a modern and Australian building that would contribute to a positive interpretation of the mosque as a normal architectural feature of suburban Australia’. Hear about the architecture, process and people involved in the creation of a groundbreaking building which establishes a new dialect for Islamic architecture in Australia. Bookings required.
Speakers: Hakan Elevli, Principal, Elevli Plus; Mohammed Haddara, Associate Director, Haddara Constructions; Dr Abdul Kamareddine, Newport Islamic Society representative
Moderator: Ewan McEoin, The Hugh Williamson Senior Curator of Contemporary Design and Architecture
Cost: Free, bookings essential
Venue: NGV Australia
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