Interconfessional Prayer Hall, Zhang Jiang Hi-Tech Park, Pudong, Shanghai (In planning)

The design of Zhang Jiang's Hi-Tech Park Prayer Hall, by AS&P (Albert Speer & Partner) won 1st prize in the competition for a congregational building for 1,200-1,500 worshippers.

Neutrality was required to embrace all faiths. The elliptical, egg-shaped plan does not have a directional focus based on any one religion. Rows of seats are accommodated in the body of the hall and there are mezzanine and balcony levels. The structure has an outer roofed loggia which encircles the building. An encircling internal corridor is sandwiched between the outer translucent wall of glass and an opaque and solid internal wall which acoustically and visually protects the main area used for meditation and prayer.

The full height, glazed curtain wall of the enclosure hangs from the structural frame of the roof, a gridiron system of fish-bellied beams, stiffened by truss rods in two directions and clad in tinted glass. The external, thin, concrete-slab canopy to the loggia is supported on slender columns.

The result; weightlessness and height, evoking the idea of a jewel with the help of reflected light from the sky and nearby water.