Ottoman cupola design solved cold climate and prayer-line needs

Evidence

In the earlier Arab and other Mediterranean mosques there was usually a wide chamber opening on a great open court. In the colder climate of Turkey, however, an enclosed and sheltered space was needed. The Ottoman architects evolved, among others, the solution of a large cupola supported on walls on a hexagonal plan. The disposition in breadth and the removal of the central supports gave room for the wide rows of worshippers, with a clear and unbroken view of the Imam and the qibla. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 125

Categorization

• XREF: Architecture as a solution space shaped by liturgical requirements — parallels the reader’s interest in how functional constraints shape built form, as in the trees-as-infrastructure piece.