This article examines the Baiturrahman Mosque in Banda Aceh and its similarities of spatial production from precolonial to colonial periods, initially under Sultan Iskandar Muda and later under the Dutch administration. To what extent does the shift in spatial production at the Baiturrahman Mosque from its seventeenth-century vernacular design to its rebuilding by the Dutch in the nineteenth century reveal a parallel narrative of identity construction? ‘Difference’ typified historical relations between the Dutch and Acehnese, yet over time the mosque’s architecture together with the spatiality of prayer inscribed meaning at the site for Banda Aceh’s community. The Baiturrahman Mosque’s various incarnations represent cases whereby similarities in processes of spatial production enabled the building to endure despite adverse socio-political circumstances. This article highlights the potential of built space to recast associations of spiritual upheaval and colonial occupation in ways that reveal intricate historical narratives and provide a model for the future production of influential and enduring architecture.

Nichols, Julie. "Parallel Processes: Spatial Production at Aceh’s Baiturrahman Mosque." pp. 169-199

Intellect