Muslims began to arrive in Ireland in the beginning of 1950s, with the present population around 40.000 in the Republic of Ireland, more than half of it in the capital city of Dublin. This diverse community comprises of Irish-born Muslims from 2nd or 3rd generations and more recent immigrants. The ethnic and cultural background of Muslims in Ireland is very diverse, with no dominant group.
With a number of mosques, schools and local organisations, as would be expected the Muslim community is very well integrated into Irish society without losing its religious identity.
The mosque first opened in Blackpitts on this site in 1992, it is housed in an existing warehouse and has a congregation totalling about 500. Its congregation has long dreamed of creating an appropriate, purpose-built Mosque on this site and with this project this dream can become a reality.
The congregation in Blackpitts is predominantly of Pakistani origin, with the service being carried out in Urdu, English and Arabic. The project for the new building picks up on this cross-cultural tradition and marries elements of Dublin architecture and materiality with traditional (and contemporary) Mosque design.
Almost all of the congregation live in the immediate vicinity so the urban tradition of fabric (houses and workplaces) and monument (places of worship and town-halls) it seems appropriate that the Mosque expresses itself as a visible public building in the area.
The ground floor of the building is taken up by the public function of the mosque while the upper floors are used as apartments. This will bring a renewed level of life and vitality to the street. The form of the building gives definition to the street.
The building fits into the pattern of new large-scale developments in the area while respecting the small-scale existing fabric.
