NOOSHIN SHAFIEI is an artist and educator. Her research and teaching are focused on traditional arts and how she applies this in modern life. Her academic studies include a BA in handicrafts (with a distinction in thesis and practical work), an MA in art research (achieved a distinction and award for her thesis) and a PhD in traditional arts at the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts. During her studies, she was awarded the Mohammad Abdul Latif Jameel Scholarship, the Farjam Foundation Scholarship and the Albukhary Foundation Scholarship. Shafiei’s design commissions include a mosque in Kent, England; a Fountain in an Islamic center in West London; mihrabs for mosques in the UK and Malaysia; the Mosaic Project for Barton and Trendworth Trust Garden Centre, England, and the mosaic wall panel for Friendship café in Gloucester, England. She is a tutor for several courses in the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Art’s open programme and has also conducted international workshops in pattern, illumination, Islamic geometry, calligraphy, ceramic tiles and wood marquetry in Qatar, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Malaysia and Pakistan. In her own art practice, Shafiei strives to achieve peace and harmony and to develop her work to the highest levels. She has taught in the field of traditional arts for more than 20 years and is a renowned artist who has exhibited her works both nationally and internationally.

 

There are an estimated 1,500 mosques in Britain; many having been built in recent years. The style and architecture of mosques are vital components of the new public face of Islam in the UK. Recent years have seen the entry of British architects into mosque design; a phase which would see a shift away from nostalgia for places of ethnic origin that arose from around the Muslim world to innovative design concepts that were more adventurous in scope. The aim of this research is to gain an understanding of the new Cambridge Central Mosque, as a case study because it uniquely brings together Islamic sacred traditions with British architecture, using the very latest technologies for the 21st century. The research focuses mainly on architectural forms and design elements, as well as objects used in and around the new Cambridge mosque.  In addition to this paper, a documentary film has been produced to document this.