Modelling an existing building may initially seem like an anti-climactic endeavour, especially if the exercise is left as one of simple reproduction, using measured drawings and other materials of specifications and exactitude to build a small-scale impersonator of the original. If, however, the available documentation is incomplete or difficult to access, and the task undertaken without the knowledge of all the necessary factors and variables, a condition arises where the act of reconstruction also becomes one of interpretation, requiring the search for clues hidden from immediate view and not contained in measurements and blueprints, but buried within the body of the form. It is often the case in the work of the architect whose work is being studied, particularly in projects of a public and communal character, to find in them a set of consistent occurrences, a series of sequential moves which allow for the extrapolation of connecting parts, revealing an imbedded order that obviates itself through a series of discoveries.

The plan of the Prayer Hall is a fairly simple one, consisting of a square floor flanked by a massive cylinder at each of its corners. The derivative geometry that gives birth to the forms, ushered from a simple planimetric existence to one of sectional complexity, is evidenced in the creation of the lightwells, whose radii result from subdividing the diagonal vertex of the square in four. Its interior is one of quiet harmony, a character tempered by the marble striations that clasp all the vertical surfaces of the complex. The layered spacing of the strips rises along the walls, bringing scale and rhythm to an otherwise impenetrable expanse of concrete. A series of coupled perforations open at the corners, lifting between them four tilted arches that suspend the roof. Contained within these walls is a space of subtle and liminal gestures, where the physicality of structure crosses paths with the elusive natures of time and light, coalescing into an order of synchronous change.