A place to play, to live and to pray.

Winners of the Global LafargeHolcim Awards Silver 2018 (l-r): Yasaman Esmaili, Studio Chahar, Iran and Mariam Kamara, Atelier Masomi, Niger congratulated by Bernd Eitel, Head of Group Communications, LafargeHolcim; Jens Diebold, Head of Sustainable Development of LafargeHolcim and member of the Board of the LafargeHolcim Foundation; and Stuart Smith, Director of Arup, United Kingdom and member of the Board of the LafargeHolcim Foundation.

The project will be a culture and education hub where the secular and the religious peacefully co-exist to cultivate minds and strengthen the community.

Winners of the Global LafargeHolcim Awards Silver 2018 (l-r): Yasaman Esmaili, Studio Chahar, Iran and Mariam Kamara, Atelier Masomi, Niger congratulated by Bernd Eitel, Head of Group Communications, LafargeHolcim; Jens Diebold, Head of Sustainable Development of LafargeHolcim and member of the Board of the LafargeHolcim Foundation; and Stuart Smith, Director of Arup, United Kingdom and member of the Board of the LafargeHolcim Foundation.

Stemming from conversations and workshops with the village leaders, middle school students and women’s groups, Dandaji’s new library provides learning spaces inside what was its Friday mosque, in direct dialog with a new mosque erected on the adjacent lot. The new setup encourages daily use and upkeep, and brings the community together. The site becomes a new culture and education hub for all, and local artisans are invited to contribute to the project with an art wall at the center of the site.

The two buildings and the site between them form a complex where the religious and the secular co-exist. While the old mosque is transformed from within using a modular shelving and spatial system, the new construction makes a strong statement through its scale and flexible spatial organization. The grounds are developed into a promenade to and fro, enhanced by generous landscaping that will thrive thanks to an underground irrigation system.

Corridor.

An endangered legacy: the locally funded project reconciles aspirations with local imperatives.

Typological contemporization: the new mosque looks to ancestral spatial logic and revives tradition.

The use of earthen materials as the main source or thermal mass, as well as the banishment of any glazed surfaces help stabilize the interior temperature. Doors and windows are strategically placed to provide natural ventilation, removing the need for mechanical cooling most of the year.

Injecting the secular on sacred grounds: the new interior structure makes room for a new use.

The use of Compressed Earth Bricks made out of local red Laterite soil has already attracted the attention of the villagers and their neighbors who routinely come and watch the building process, marveling over this “new red brick”, as they call it, providing us an opportunity to educate them further on the material.

Identifying resources: the new design utilizes locally found and produced building materials.

Women attend agriculture and product transformation workshops, literacy, and accounting classes.

Hikma woman by the wall.

The new library is a hub to seek knowledge and converse.

The exchange: the new design honors the sacred forms with new materials and building technique.

Peaceful dialog: on major life events, the new mosque turns into a venue for celebration.

Winners of the Holcim Awards Gold 2017 Middle East Africa (l-r): Iranian architect Yasaman Esmaili and Nigerien architect Mariam Kamara for Legacy Restored: Religious and secular complex, Dandaji, Niger.

Project authors (l-r): Mariam Kamara, atelier masomi, Providence, RI, USA and Niamey, Niger; and Yasaman Esmaili, studio chahar, Seattle, USA.