Angelo Candalepas: Australian Islamic Mission tells the story of the Punchbowl Mosque, a new architectural Western Sydney landmark and winner of the 2018 Sulman Medal for Public Architecture. Designed by Angelo Candalepas and Associates for the Australian Islamic Mission (AIM), the Punchbowl Mosque represents a poignant moment of collaboration across faiths and cultures. This book presents four written reflections on the mosque from faith, architectural, cultural and engineering viewpoints.

In an essay on his architectural inspiration and process, Angelo Candalepas reflects on universal experiences within faith spaces, underlining that such architecture can have a phenomenological impact regardless of its religious intention or a person’s beliefs. Senior Associate at Candalepas Associates, Adrian Curtin discusses the bespoke engineering required to deliver the Punchbowl Mosque. Intended as a guide for others, Curtin lays out the specific techniques used to develop the mosque’s concrete set-out, including the iconic 102 quarter-spherical, concrete muqarnas.

Dr Zachariah Matthews, Vice-President of AIM and the Punchbowl Mosque, speaks to AIM’s design brief and the community support for the project, which proved vital to its construction. Maryam Gusheh, Associate Professor in Architectural Studies at UNSW, approaches the mosque as a form of contemporary cultural expression. Both personal and grounded in architectural criticism, Gusheh’s essay illuminates the significance of an architecturally designed mosque for the Muslim community of Sydney.