Photo © 2017 CHOI+SHINE

THE FLYING MOSQUE 


FABRICATION & INSTALLATION

Design

Jin Choi and Thomas Shine


Crocheters

Listed below


Steel Fabrication

Shaw Welding (Boston)


3D Printing

Digits2Widgets (London)


Assembly Crew (Boston)

Jin Choi

Thomas Shine

Eunhye Yoon

Sunah Jung

Page Choi

Heesoo Kim

Heesuk Cho

Carlos Arevalo

Willie Murcia


Installation Crew (Sharjah)

Thomas Shine

Jin Choi

Liam Fraiser

Al Majaz Amphitheater Stage Crew

  

Lighting

Chetan Makwana  


Special Thanks to 

His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi

His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed al Qasimi

Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival High Committee

Sharjah Art Museum

Farah Qassim

Nahla Alawahdi


Crocheters


Kathryn Antman

Peggy Baker

Lynn Berndt

Heather Bogart

Jennifer Brigham

Sophie Cho

Yuna Cho

Jin Choi

Pat Cooper

Katie Duane

Susan Fix

Patty Foley

Nancy Gambill

Debbie Gates

Annette  Hynes

Cheryl Jansen

Peggy Kaney

Lidia Karabinech

Mary-Jean Kelehan

Tahira Kathleen Kobreek

Sofia Kyle

Hyokyung Lee

Sharry Lee Gregory

Corey Meier

Mariette Meijaard

Patti Murphy

Jean Nunn

Peihan Orestes

Kristen Perez

Julia Pierce

Lynne Provost

Prabha Ramakrishnan

Jenny Richie

Holly Rife

Hillary Robertson

Miriam Robinson

Scarlett Shaw

Dianna Smith

Mary Tokumaru

Micaya Vance Clymer

Natalie Weichel

Liz Wu

Above: One of the pattern instructions showing the overall dimensions and sequence.

FABRICATION


The Flying Mosque forms consist of hand crocheted fabric panels,  each fastened to lightweight preformed structure to create the geometrical volumes.


The design development involved pattern development for the crochet and designing and fabricating the frame structures.


Once the design of each pattern was completed,  the pattern was drawn in CAD to accurately incorporate the material’s dimension and method of crochet.   The drawings were then distributed to the crocheters with the instructions and diagrams along with the crochet materials.


Making of the lace  was a very important aspect of the project.  Crocheters from throughout the US, Canada and the UK shared their questions and progress with photos and comments on a dedicated social media page.  This quickly formed a strong community with members supporting each other with mutual interest and shared goal under a pressure from a highly restrictive time schedule.


Once the completed work from each volunteer was shipped to our studio in Boston, where the assembly work started.  Hand stitching the lace pieces with Dyneema thread was a physically challenging work due to the size of crochet lace, while connecting hand crochet works from many different authors became a  tricky puzzle.

Right: Photos from crocheters:


Patti Murphy, Anette hynes, Mariette Meijaard, Peihan Orestes, Mary tokumaru, Patty Foley

INSTALLATION


The assembled lace and the frames were shipped to Sharjah, while the nylon connectors were 3d printed in London and shipped directly to the site in Sharjah.  The site, the Al Majaz Amphitheater, is on an artificial island in Sharjah.  The support truss structure was installed on the helipad on the island for suspension of the artwork. 


For the site assembly, the frames were first assembled with connectors on the ground.  Then, the lace membrane was attached to the frames and hoisted up to the final height at the designated position.   The panels and structure are suspended with cables which are fasten to secure structural anchors holding the forms in place. 


The hand crocheted fabric shells are constructed of marine grade double braided polyester cord, illuminated by multiple spot lights, creating an evenly lit, glowing structure. 


A typical individual geometric form from the Flying Mosque is only a meter or two wide, but the collective arrangement of the work occupies an area of 10m x 30m.

The design and images of The Flying Mosque  are copyright 2017, Choi+Shine Architects and may not be used without written permission. The Flying Mosque™  is a trademark of Choi+Shine Architects.

The images and design  copyright 2017-2022 Choi+Shine Architects, LLC.  All rights reserved. 


Contact:  Choi+Shine Architects for written permission for image use.

The images and design  copyright 2016 - 2024   Choi+Shine Architects, LLC.  All rights reserved. 

The designs, artworks and images on this page are subject to copyright, patent and/or trademark protection.

Contact:  Choi+Shine Architects for written permission for image use.

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