After the forest fires that caused the death of 38 people in the north of Algeria in August 2022, the religious authorities want to contribute to climate action. It is in this context that Algerian imams have initiated the “green mosque” project, a place of worship that will be built on an area of 9,000 m² in the new town of Sidi Abdellah in the southwestern suburbs of Algiers.
According to Mustapha Cheikh Zouaoui, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Housing, Urbanism and the City, who recently presided over the ceremony to lay the first stone of the project, the construction of this Muslim religious building will take into account environmental standards in order to counteract drought.
Thus, Algeria’s first “green mosque” will recycle waste water for irrigation. Work to be completed by 2024 includes the construction of green walls and windows, as well as the installation of solar panels that can save 50% on energy consumption.
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The main building consists of the ground floor with a capacity of 2,500 seats and three floors, the first of which can accommodate up to 2,500 worshippers and the third reserved for women. As for the minaret (the highest tower from which the call to prayer is made to the Muslim faithful, editor’s note), it will be 47 metres long and will include a conference room, a library, a Koranic school, as well as two staff quarters, each equipped with an air-conditioning system for the staff attached to the mosque. However, the installation of air-conditioning units, which consume a lot of energy, reduces the ecological interest of the project.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi