By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER MANHATTAN — This mosque doesn’t want to blend in.
New renderings of Park51, the mosque and community center planned near Ground Zero, show a dramatic 13-story building with a white webbed facade. The modern structure would stand several stories above its more traditional neighbors on Park Place.
The new designs, by SOMA Architects, also offer the first glimpse inside the $100 million mosque and community center. The floors and walls appear porous, with light filtering in from many different angles, and an open floor plan with an asymmetrical crisscrossing pattern gives a sense of spaciousness.
The designs do not show the prayer space or any of the community amenities, which organizers say will include a gym, a pool and a theater.
Park51’s backers plan to knock down the existing buildings at 45-51 Park Place to make way for the new structure, but they have only just begun raising money for the project.
SOMA Architects and Park51 did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
