The platinum Prize 2من اصل4

A lot of passive and active solutions are used in “The Square Mosque”
Project. Integration between passive and active strategies was so essential
to ensure that the building has backup plans in case of any of the passive
strategies didn’t act well due to severe weather and climate conditions.
1. Mashrabyya : The concept of Mashrabya is used at the mosque’s roof &
elevations as a try to provide natural light to most of the project’s vital
interiors and also to protect the interiors from the direct sun light and glare
which may case visual discomfort.
2. The mosque’s Minaret as a huge wind catcher: It’s form came from the
Malwiya minaret; ( Malwiyah ) is part of the Great Mosque of Samarra. The
top of the Minarat is used as a huge wind catcher to provide the mosque’
spaces with nature ventilation during the four sessions with different
percentages depending on outer weather conditions.
3. Energy Efficient Building Envelope: The outer shell of the project is
designed to act as a high thermal mass by choosing high insulation materials
for the building envelope such as thick brick walls with making air gaps
between its layers. This feature along with the others like the wind catcher
at Minarat, Skylights and cross ventilation contributed to 36% reduction in
the total energy consumption of the mosque building compared to another
building built with the conventional strategies.
4. On-site Renewable Energy using Photovoltaic Panels: The area at 6th of
October city witnesses high solar   radiation levels because of its existing in a
desert area specially the southern and western facades. This became an big
asset for us as we used 90% of the Rewaq’s roof area to implement solar
photovoltaic panels to generate on site renewable energy.