Study on the Development and Environmental Adaptation of Mosque Architecture in Disaster-Prone Region of Ternate Island, Indonesia

Abstract

Ternate Island is an archipelago in eastern Indonesia that is prone to earthquakes and volcanoes. The mosque architecture in the area developed along with the entry of Islam around the 13^th century. This study was conducted to identify the development and deployment patterns of the mosque at Ternate Island and also analyze the ecological design principles and environmental adaptation in response to extreme environmental conditions. This study was performed through literature studies, field observations, and a Geographic Information System (GIS), with the study object consisting of 91 (80%) mosques. The results showed that the mosque buildings spread from the northern to the southern regions of Ternate City in a circular pattern surrounding Ternate Island by following the settlement road pattern and topography characteristics. Its development strongly influenced the city's image, where the existence of mosque buildings on almost every corner of the alley, with the dome type observed to be dominant in homogenous societies in urban areas and the traditional type in heterogeneous societies in old villages inhabited by natives or sultanate communities. Moreover, the mosque architecture was discovered to have adapted to extreme environmental conditions hundreds of years ago based on local wisdom and passive design strategies to respond to tropical climates and natural disasters. Therefore, the findings of this study are expected to inspire the design of sustainable contemporary mosques in the future, especially for archipelago cities with extreme environmental conditions.