Central features in this Islamic Institute are the worshipper's experience of a covenant with God (the static element) and the evolution of Islam through history (the dynamic element). The convenant made between man and God is given shape in the main space for worship. The basic element of this space is the dome symbolizing the division of the one over the many. Unusually, the dome-shape in this design is elongated and pinched into a cone rising above the roof. Having the cone slope towards Mecca, moreover, indicates the direction worship should proceed in. The Islam of history is expressed in the library and the places of learning. These spaces for meetings and discussion wind like a landscape between the cone and the edge of the building in an unbroken unity. The Islamic Institute was designed as much from the cultural as from the spatial context. Departure-points for the thinking on the institute were a multicultural society and the necessary integration into it of the islamic community, together with a young generation out of touch with its faith. Armed with these thoughts and ideas, emphasis was then placed on the difference between a historical Islam, and Islam in the sense of an engagement entered into between God and man. Unlike the covenant with God, the Islam of history is able to undergo the changes necessary to effect integration. After analysing the site, I elected to reinstate the city block and integrate the main prayer space in it. The contextual approach brings with it both unity and disparity. These, then, are the two conditions for identity. This building is one with present-day culture in the Netherlands and consequently dissimilar to a building in another culture. Spatially it unites with the surroundings and will therefore also differ from a building in another context. My intention with this design is to show how seeking to achieve identity on a contextual basis can produce a mosque of quite a different kind. Institution: Amsterdam Tutors: Herman Kerkdijk, Arie van Rangelrooij & Hans Tupker Specialization: architecture