Turkey has more than 82,000 mosques. All except for one have been designed by men. Zeynep Fadillioglu is a 59-year-old interior designer and the brains behind the Şakirin mosque in Istanbul. Fadillioglu payed particular attention to ornamentation in the Şakirin mosque, along with uniformity, making sure that the men’s and woman’s parts of the mosque were designed equally—often the men’s side is a much nicer place to pray. Fadillioglu has expanded since the Şakirin mosque opened and has helped design stunning mosques from Qatar to New York.
First Turkish mosque designed by a woman
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