Islamic Architecture of Mosques

There are different components to what makes the entire architecture of mosques. I looked at:

• Dome and its interior motif/pattern design
• Muqarnas (the entrance arch in Middle Eastern region mosques)
• Modern mosque architecture (recurring motifs)
• Arches (how it varies in different regions)

Further looking into these islamic patterns, these islamic motifs are achieved using cirlces and straight lines, with these lines interlacing one another. Therefore, I decided to go with the idea of interlacing for the final project, inspired by the islamic patterns.

As there are different mosques in different regions, the colours also influenced the architecture of these mosques. I was inspired by the Moroccan Style colours, but not too fancy of colours. I chose the colour scheme of mustard, green, blue, and white — the colours that are related to the Islamic religion.

I moved on to creating samples for the different techniques that I considered using for my final.

There were many possibilities as to what my final piece would be. For example, with these samples that I had, it could be either coasters, table runners, cushion covers, or screen/dividers in a home.

I tested a smaller piece of my intended final with the technique of applique. I did not want the final piece to be just a flat piece as motifs that I was inspired from was already flat and 2D. Therefore, to add a little taste of 3D, I decided to include smocking pattern into the applique final piece.

I decided to make a table runner for the final piece. I chose the white felt smocking so that I could play with the colours of green, blue and mustard in surrounding the white.