Peckham Mosque Extension
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Peckham Mosque - front view with adjacent London Board School
Qunitin Lake (website) Download Original
Addition of a timber vaulted prayer hall and the completion of the unfinished minarets at Peckham's principal Mosque and Islamic Centre
The Peckham Mosque was begun in the late 1990s and left incomplete for a decade as the community raised further funds. The project, in a conservation area just west of Rye Lane, set out to complete and enlarge the Peckham’s central mosque, and complete the long-unfinished minarets.
The new barrel vaulted prayer room is designed to create positive and emphatic top to the formerly flat-roofed mosque. It’s pointed arch respects traditional Islamic form. The low-slung barrel vaulted form also delivers maximum daylight to neighbouring gardens. The vaulted prayer room is formed by 8 three-pinned glu-lam timber arches, clad in zinc. Timber is celebrated in the interior with a carefully detailed timber lining.
The minarets synthesize Mughal architecture with British Arts and Crafts design. In a departure from much British Islamic architecture, these minarets use traditional materials, including tiles and hand-made special bricks from a Dorset brickworks. The polychrome brickwork minarets playfully communicate with the handsome Victorian Board School across the street.
Data
- Begun: Mar 2011
- Completed: Jun 2013
- Floor area: 180m2
- Sector: Religious
- Total cost: £237,000
- Funding: A community-funded Mosque extension project
- Tender date: Nov 2010
- Procurement: JCT minor Works Contract
- Address: The Peckham Mosque & Islamic Centre, 13 Choumert Grove, Peckham, London, SE15 4PD, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: Benedict O'Looney Architects
- Client: The Peckham Mosque and Islamic Centre
- Structural engineer: Price & Myers
- Contractor's engineer: Chelmvale
Suppliers
- Glue-lam timber structure: M.M. Kaufmann
- Main contractor: Progress 2001 Ltd.
- Special bricks to the minarets: Ibstock, Swanage works
- Zinc roof and domes: Reinzink