Home to the largest Bosnian population outside of Bosnia, this community has built three mosques in their new home city of Saint Louis. While prayer space has been accommodated at each campus, the community lacked spaces for recreational, educational, and community events. To this end, Saint Louis’s South City Mosque sought to design a new community center adjacent to their existing prayer space. Wanting to create a place that transcends the role of a typical community center, the exterior design doubles as a monument to the Bosnian peoples’ story and arrival in Saint Louis.

Featuring durable materials, the palette imparts a sense of resiliency while incorporating light and transparent features, which serve as an invitation to the community. Visibility into the building creates a welcoming impression, promoting cultural understanding and exchange between Bosnians and Saint Louis natives. Spaces within the center are multi-functional, with the entire building faces Mecca, allowing any of the rooms to be used for prayer. Interior and exterior café spaces create a common area flanked by a multi-functional conference room, a commercial grade kitchen, offices, classrooms, a multi-functional gymnasium, locker rooms, and restrooms equipped with ablution areas.

Lastly, this project is unique not only in its design and function, but also in its construction story. Several members of the mosque will contribute their skills and labor to build the facility, creating a space that is not only for the community but by the community.