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- I am wondering if this competition is just an ideas competition or to be built? Thanks - It is to be built.

- All engineering services and projects: Structure, MEP, Acoustics,.are included in the Architect's contract, or will it be a separate engineering tender process ? The winner of the Competition will start negotiations for binding contract with the Investor, about the drafting of the project in all its phases, the submission to the respective bodies for approval and supervision of the construction procedures. Yes all the phases mean all engineering project services.

- Does a registered/licensed landscape architect qualify to participate in the competition? Unfortunately a landscape architect does not qualify to take part. However he may take part as a member of a team led by a registered / licensed architect.

- Can the Retail shops be in an internal/Interior Bazaar format in addition to being on the street edges. (due to the large area and number of shops requested, its impossible to locate them all on the edges of the competition site!) Yes, they can.

- Does the Prayer Hall entry(ies) have to be directly opposite of Kiblah wall or can it be a side entry ? Yes, the prayer hall entry has to be directly on the opposite of the kiblah wall.

- The brief asks for Mens and Womens lockers to be on the ground floor? Can these be closer to the Ablution area and showers on Level 1? The lockers have to be on the ground floor as described in the competition brief.

- Is there a reliable printer in Prishtina where we can send our digital files to, to be printed and mounted on boards and delivered to the Jury thereby eliminating the need to send large boards internationally?

We, the Promoter of the competition do not possess a plotter and we cannot print / plot your files. However you can send your plots in rolls in a tube and we will mount them on the boards.

- Can you tell us how many have registered for this competition? The Competition Secretariat considered not to share this information.

- Is a physical model mandatory or 3D graphics is enough? If yes, is this a mass model? A physical model is mandatory for all competitors.

- When participating as a team the entrance fee is 100 Euro per person or 100 Euro per team ? The fee is 100 euros per team.

- When participating as a team does a maximum number of team members exist ? if there is a maximum number what is it ? -There is no maximum number for team members.

- Could a college degree certificate replace a licence of profession right practicing? No, at least a team representative must be registered / licensed / certified / authorized in a professional body in their country.

- What is the corporate taxpayer no.? A corporate taxpayer no is to be written only for teams. Anyone competing as an individual freelance architect can write his personal taxpayer number.

- Is there any estimated budget for the building of the central Mosque of Pristine? Since this competition is for building the Mosque and not simply an idea competition, we believe a rough budget will help the designing teams. No, we do not have an estimated budget.

- Have you already decided on the composition of the Jury Panel, and will you announce them in the competition website? In case you have not decided yet, will you announce them prior to the deadline? We are still on a process of composing the Jury Panel. We will, as soon as we have it done, before the submission deadline, publish the names of the Jury members on the website.

- In the competition brief and materials there is a sketch showing the direction of the entrances to the underground parking of the future Mosque. One of them is from the Iliaz Kodra Street. There is another property/ land that stands in between the Site and the Street. Does this imply that we are allowed to use part of the property in-between for a vehicle passage that will connect the future Mosque site to Iliaz Kodra Street? Yes, you are allowed to use that part for a vehicle passage for the access to the garage.

- Are the competitors allowed to propose different or alternative solution/s for the circulation in the close proximity of the Mosque site? Or alternative underground vehicle parking entrance/s? - Yes, they are allowed to do that.

- In the brief you mention about shops as part of a supporting program, especially in terms of economic support. Do you know what kind of shops you would like to accommodate in this site? Knowing about the nature of the stuff that is going to be retailed next to the Mosque will help us to deal properly with this issue, that is somehow external to the main program. It is not specified, these are planned to be generally commercial retail shops of different nature.

- Is it possible to put on the website a digital map (dwg) of the city of Pristine? That would help us analyze the city in general and the surroundings of the Mosque site in particular. We do not possess a digital map of the city of Prishtina, hence we cannot offer you that.

- Is there any facade drawings of the surrounding buildings, like the Post Telecommunication Building, or the apartment blocks on "Deshmoret e Kombit" Boulevard? In case there is, could you place them in the competition website, as they will be very helpful for the team/s to relate the future Mosque to its context.

We do not have any drawings of the surrounding buildings facades.

- Last question for now; Does the city of Pristine have a Geographic Information System (GIS) built? That would also help the team/s understanding better the context of the city and the site. No, it does not.

- Is it legal if one or two members of my team where undergraduate architecture student? Yes, it is legal as long as the team representative is a professional licensed or certified architect.

- What is the maximum Number of members can I register in one team? There is no limitation concerning the number of team members.

- Can I add or change the members of the team after I register in this competition? Yes, the members of the team can be added or changed as long as the team representative remains, but we have to be informed about that.

- Is the dome an obligatory element for the mosque? Yes, it is.

- Is there a maximum coverage/ constructible surface? Yes, you can see it on the Space Program table on the last column use of parcel %.

- Which is the Minimum distance of the buildings from the boundaries of the plot? This is only defined to the east of the land plot which is marked with a construction boundary (blue) line. Here it is shown in the PDF file provided for download. The other sides are not defined but you should try to keep a distance acceptable considering the free spaces around the mosque.

- Is there a maximum permitted height for the building? Actually there is no defined height for the building as well as for the minaret.

- The space program is separated in 7 levels. 4 basements, the ground floor with the prayer hall for the men and two more floors. By level-1 and level-2 y?u mean 1st floor and second floor ? The Ground floor is meant to be on the same level as the street Bulevardi I Dshmorve to the east of the land plot. Since the terrain is sloped we named the other levels with a minus. Two floors under the ground floor (-1 and -2) are not completely underground.

- Could the praying area for the men be developed in two levels? It could as long as the women prayer area is above the men prayer area.

- The bookshelves for the Quran books should be located at the men praying area? At both areas

- The praying area of the women has to be on the ground floor? It has to be above the men prayer area, so it cannot be on the ground floor.

- The buildings on the west side of the site are called "temporary" in the brief and they are planned to be demolished and replaced with a green square according to the regulatory plans. Should this area be shown as green spaces in the proposal? Yes, you can present them as green spaces.

- Is it possible to extend the design proposal to the surroundings of the site such as the green areas and the pedestrian roads in order to make a better connection with the city? This is quite relative in means of extents, but primarily yes, you may in the sense of green areas and pedestrian roads this is even required.

- Is the design expected to be more contemporary with respect to local traditions and symbols or closer to traditional mosque architecture? This is left to the architects choice.

- How many participants have applied for registration so far? We decided to not share this information yet.

- Are the competitors supposed to submit the 1/500 scale model mentioned on 5.10 SUBMISSIONS, or just photos and images of it? They are supposed to submit a scale model.

- If international competitors are sending all material through post, do the post stamp is considered for deadline of submission, or deadline is considered as the date of arriving of the competition's proposal package? In order to be fair, we decided to give to the competitors abroad (and only for them) 5 days extra. That means that the submitted material has to arrive on Wendsday 13th March 2013.

- In Page 39; Educational social areas: point 3 (The recreational Multipurpose room) Please confirm that a single indoor swimming pool is required (no need to have one for male and one for female) No, that is a misunderstanding and we apologize for not specifying. With the word pool we meant pool table, not a swimming pool.

- In page 51; Exhibition panels, does the energy solution scheme have to be presented on the boards? Cannot they be only included in the booklet? The energy scheme can be presented in a smaller scale (has not to be defined) on the boards. But if there is no way to present it on the board, then you could as well show it only in the booklet.

- In page 53-54; The Evaluation Criteria; Ecological Criteria; Energy Saving through innovative HVAC system, does this mean that an HVAC system report shall be added to the submission? Or is it to be concluded from the energy solution scheme and the drawings? That is your choice. If you consider the scheme to be a sufficient explanation, then yes.

- The Capacity of Women praying hall is very near to men praying hall (3600 women to 3800 Men) (ratio of about 1:1), generally -in mosques-praying halls- the ratio of women to men is (1:3) and sometimes (1:4), please confirm the required number of persons. That is because of the Friday and Festival (Eid) prayers the number of persons using the Mosque reaches the maximum peak and we considered using the space in those days as well as for men.

- In the space program, it is mentioned in the note that: the 1st level is to be considered starting from +594, since the highest level on the Topographic Survey is about +593.7, does the 1st level here means the ground floor- with the men praying hall (as per the levels names given in the space program)? The Ground floor is meant to be on the same level as the street Bulevardi I Dshmorve to the east of the land plot. Since the terrain is sloped we named the other levels with a minus. Two floors under the ground floor (-1 and -2) are not completely underground.

- Considering the green market on the opposite of the mosque should we consider relocating part of it in the shops required in the mosque's programm and is it possible to use its place as a pulic space connected to the mosque. No. That is not a part of our land plot.

- As mentioned in the space program sheet - The functions of the ground floor, level-1, level-2, etc. is pretty clear, but you mentioned at the end of the space program sheet that there is 1st level that will start from +594m. The question is what is the function of this level? And does it mean the ground level roof is going to be in the same level with "Bulevardi i Dshmorve" street? On the ground floor level is going to be the mosque prayer hall. The -1 level roof is going to be on the same level as "Bulevardi i Dshmorve" street and over it the ground floor.

- For Men praying area (prayer hall), the total area is 3300 square meter does this area include the Portico (Hayat) or not?

Yes it does, as long as it is planned as a prayer area.

- should the number of the prayers (3800) be inside the praying hall only , Or it could be also in the open space ? It is meant to be inside and that can be achieved through more levels of galleries

- As you mentioned in the last line of the space program : ( note : 1st level has been considered from +594 m .......etc) do you mean that level +594 m is the ground floor or level -1 ? The ground level.

- Is the women praying area is also used as a gallery? The gallery is used as the prayer area for women.

- As you mentioned in the space program : Gallery (Mahfils) - levels , Could it be many levels inside the ground floor level with the same whole height (mezzanine) ? Yes, it can.

- As you mentioned , the deadline of submission., is per receiving or sending the materials ? For receiving. We have extended it only for the foreign competitors to 13.03.2013.

- Could the prayer hall be designed underground, with the earth covering part of it? No.

- Which is the distance between the praying lines? Please do a little research on that. It differs depending on the source, it is not definitely stated.

- Is it possible that the kiblah wall has openings or be penetrated or it has to be a solid wall?

There is no limitation on that. It may have openings.

- Is it possible that the praying space of men and women be on different levels but have a visual communication? Yes, it should be on different levels with a limited visual communication.

- Do we have to achieve a gold or platinum LEED certificate? Or do we have to accomplish any other sustainable rule? That is not defined. You should try to make it as sustainable as possible.

- Can we modify the surrounding further than the intervention area? Only in means of a proposal. The intervention area includes our land plot and it can be intervened only to some extent like: green areas and pedestrian roads.

- Witch will be the approximate daily people influx to the Mosque? It depends on the days. The peak of the people influx will be on Fridays and festivals. We assume that at those days the Mosque (prayer hall) will be used to its maximum of capacity.

- Does the Dome need to be a single one, or can the design include several domes? It is your choice. There can be as well as several domes.

- Can you supply the strategic plan-urban development and the regulatory plan of Pristina? It is available on the competition website

- Do we have a budget limitation? Do we need to attach the budget amount in the layouts or just in the A3 booklets? There is no defined budget limitation.

- In the blockperspectives.pdf does not appear the health centre, and the provided road for garage entrance is showed like a pedestrian way. Is this plan reliable or an in progress version? It is a progressive version.

- Is it possible to get 3D of the competition area with in digital version. We do not have it.

- The climatic Report for Prishtina did not mention the prevailing wind information .."highly requested". At this time we only have data for the maximum wind speed for the whole of Kosovo. It reaches a maximum speed of 31 m/s usually in the months of March and April. However we will try to acquire specific information for the city of Prishtina.

- What is the possibility of adding one more professional designer as a team member to the sent previously Competition team list. This can be done before the submission deadline and by informing us about the new member/s.

- We would like further clarification about the Submissions section in the Competition Brief. Specifically do you accept submissions by post? Yes, of course we do.

- How will the Narrative booklet play a role in the evaluation process? And how will it be exhibited? The booklet will serve for the jury evaluation only it will not be exhibited.

- In the Evaluation Criteria section : Urban context, Architectural design, Functional, Ecological, Technical criteria are mentioned. Is there any criteria that has higher importance to the project? Or Is there a main, dominant goal with the project? The answer is right there under 5.12 EVALUATION CRITERIA - They are not listed in any order of priority.

- Is it possible to design built or unbuilt elements on the ground level outside the site boundaries? No.

- Is it possible to design underground spaces outside the site boundaries? No.

- Is it possible to displace the functions on different levels than the order given by the "Space Program" chart (example: the restaurant above the mosque prayer hall)? The Mosque (prayer hall) has to be above the other functional areas. As for the other functions that is up to you.

- Is it possible to know an approximate percentage for the usage of the prayer hall during the normal daily prayer compared with Fridays and Festival prayers (100% use)? We suppose from 300 to 350 people.

- Are the residential buildings on the east side to be considered already demolished for the project? You may consider that only as a green area. The demolition is only planned by the city.

- Regarding point 4.4 - "Educational, social and administrative areas" of the brief, must the whole restaurant or only the restaurant kitchen to be detached from other areas? Yes, the whole.

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