Clad in Travertine, the prayer halls undulating qibla wall frames the mihrab and minbar; the carpeting is based on an enlarged scan of an individual Prayer rug.Photo: Iwan Baan/Courtesy of DS+RThe solution came in the form of an undulating roof, which swoops up above the prayer hall and down over the education center. The roof allows there to be grandeur and intimacy in one gesture, Diller says of the adjoining spaces, whose shared volume shifts 17 degrees off axis from the canopy in the direction of Mecca. The prayer halls orienting qibla wall, clad in travertine, bears its own curves. One niche frames the mihrab, cupping natural light from the aperture above to create a luminous focal point. (Historically the mihrab, indicating the direction of Mecca, would have been the most richly ornamented element, often bearing mosaic tilework.) The other, inverted, contains the minbar, a steel cantilevered platform lit from below, where the imam delivers sermons.A diffuse glow permeates the entire space as a result of 5,488 conical light wells, each one just 7.8 inches in diameter along the rooflineminimizing solar gainbut flared out at ceiling height to appear much wider. All cast a radiant aura upon the carpeting, its pixelated pattern based on a blown-up scan of a single prayer rug. Our intent was to create something familiar but not quite, Diller says of the plush pile, woven in China out of wool from New Zealand, with depressions to indicate rows for prayer. No individual mats necessary.At every turn, meanwhile, the design fosters a deeper connection to naturefrom the gardens that surround the building to the circular interior courtyard that separates the prayer hall and education spaces, planted with two olive trees (symbols of knowledge). Materials reinforce that bond, especially the complementary use of travertine and black limba wood, whose palette echoes the tones of sand. The ablution area, by contrast, features washing stations of dark basalt.The interior courtyard that separates the prayer hall from the education spaces is planted with two olive trees, symbols of knowledge.Photo: Iwan Baan/Courtesy of DS+R