Islamic Cultural Center of New York, East 96th-97th Streets and Third Avenue New York, New York

SOM Project #6081

The Islamic Cultural Center of New York comprises a 1,000-person mosque, an assembly room, and minaret (the latter designed by the architectural firm of Swanke Hayden Connell). It was the first religious center built for New York’s Muslim community and, with its minaret and copper-clad, precast dome, creates a striking presence in its Upper East Side community. The building is rotated on its site to face Mecca, breaking out of the city street grid. SOM’s original master plan also called for an administrative building containing classrooms, a library, offices, a conference hall, an apartment for the Imam, and a 20-car parking garage(unbuilt).