Through the addition of a new “sacred” infrastructure, Islamberg is being “re-centered” within the regional Muslim community. Starting as a peripheral small town, it becomes a place of sacred importance through time and burial. Islamberg is a small hamlet in upstate New York, hosting a population who migrated from the big city several decades ago to practice Islam in peace. Through a system that uses contaminated soil from regional brownfield sites, a cemetery is built in a nearby quarry. The soil is first remediated on site and then used for burial of Muslims from the nearby towns. Through time and burials, other structures are needed to support the new sacred infrastructure; a place to wash and pray over the body as well as a place to meditate and mourn. These edifices use the newly remediated soil as a means of architectural formwork. The project aims to re-center Islamberg among its larger Islamic urban context, re-center sacredness, and heal the landscape.
