Please give an example of a building built after 1900 you may have seen either in person
or in pictures that was designed in a classical style. Why do you think the architect(s)
chose to copy the classical style? What kind of messages does that style convey? How is
the building’s function (use) suited to the classical style?
The Greek architecture is famous because of its accuracy, uniqueness and considered as
greatness of their craftmanship. They were far ahead from sixth century B.C in advanced
architectural calculations and formulas even the Greek architecture influenced in the past two
centuries.
The classical architectural design I like to discuss here is Faisal Mosque located in the capital
city Islamabad of Pakistan. The construction began in 1976 and finished in 1986 and is now
considered as the sixth largest mosque of the world. From 1986 to 1993 it was the world
largest mosque. It was designed by a Turkish designer Vedat Daolkay who was selected for
designing after wining an international competition.
The classical design represents a piece of Islamic architecture which is shaped like a Bedouin
tent. It is surrounded by four tall minarets of 260 feet each and its unique design shows an
eight-sided shell shaped sloping roofs which forms a triangular worship hall. Architect
preferred to construct eight-sided main hall instead of old dome style with four long minarets
in all corners of Turkish architecture. It has a capacity to accommodate 300000 people at a
time. The interior of mosque is decorated with white marble, mosaics, and calligraphy by
Pakistani and Turkish artists. It was constructed by Saudi Arabia king and gifted to Pakistan.
The mosque contains a library, a big lecture hall, museum, a cafe and earlier an International
Islamic University which is now shifted to new campus. Faisal mosque is named after the late
Saudi Arabia King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz who financed the whole project and is the national
mosque of Pakistan.
The architect has chosen the classical style after considering the functional purpose, usability
and subjected to desire. The mosque used minarets which was used by Ottoman Empire
mostly. Architect designed the building in classical style to highlight the importance of
building to anyone who uses it. These classical building are constructed by focussing on
principles of symmetry and proportion along with strong foundations and considered as
backbone from past (Stackhouse, 2018).
Along with highlighting old traditional and rich architecture of Islamic civilization the style
conveys friendship, unity, and faith. Buildings like these are of great importance as these
helps in uniting people and preserves traditional architectural design. It also conveys
combination of three countries decorative arts under one roof.
Reference
Stackhouse, S. (2018) Classical Architecture for the Modern World.
https://freshwriting.nd.edu/volumes/2014/essays/classical-architecture-for-the-modern-world