Islamic architectural millwork
Mihrabs, minbars, screens, calligraphy and architectural lighting, designed for your building, fabricated in New Jersey, and installed as one complete system.
Drag to see the qibla wall change. Three different buildings, three different design languages, one process behind them.
Concept renderings. Every space is surveyed and designed to its own proportions.
A church, a warehouse, a storefront. The community buys the building, lays the carpet, and holds Jumu'ah the following week.
It works, and it is the beginning of something. What the room still lacks is the architecture that belongs to the people praying in it: a qibla wall built with intention, meant to last. Sanaa gives a community that permanence, without closing the hall to get there.
Drawn to the proportions of your building, cut and finished in our shop, lit as part of the design, and installed by the people who made it.
The niche that turns a wall into a qibla. A carved surround, a full recessed niche, or a flat panel for walls that cannot be opened.
Three steps or nine, with a carved gate, canopy and balustrades. Built as one solid piece that does not move when the khatib leans on it.
Mashrabiya for the sisters' section, dividers that let light and sound through, wainscot and ceiling panels that carry one pattern around the hall.
Verses, names and the shahada as raised, recessed or pierced lettering in thuluth, kufi or naskh. The wording is chosen by you and your imam and reviewed by a calligrapher before anything is cut.
Light is half the design. Cove lighting that lifts the niche, screens backlit so the pattern reads from the back row, chandeliers and lanterns sized to the ceiling, all dimmable by scene.
Sanaa is the millwork and lighting division of a licensed New Jersey builder with its own CNC shop. One team draws it, cuts it, wires it and installs it, so nothing is lost in a hand-off.
We walk the building with you, measure the wall, and listen.
Drawings, a rendering in your own hall, a fixed price and a schedule, before anything is cut.
CNC-cut, then joined and finished by hand. You are welcome in the shop while it is on the bench.
Our own crew, around the prayer schedule. The hall stays open.
Design and renderings. Millwork. Lighting and electrical. Niche and wall finishes. Installation and a final walkthrough.
A board is a steward of other people's money. How we work is built around that.
Drawings, a rendering of your actual hall, a fixed price for the agreed scope, and an installation date, in one document.
If existing conditions or the requested scope change, nothing proceeds without written board approval.
Most communities raise the money after they see the room. The renderings are yours from the day the proposal is delivered.
And the work can be phased: the mihrab this year, the screens after the next campaign. Every element is drawn so the later pieces belong with the earlier ones.
Islamic schools, community centers and businesses commission the same screens, signage and calligraphy for their own spaces. The process is identical.
It depends on the wall, the wood and how much of it is carved or lit. We give a realistic range on the first call, before any visit, and a fixed number with the proposal.
Design and fabrication happen in the shop while your hall carries on as normal. Installation is measured in days, scheduled around prayer times. A schedule comes with the proposal.
No. Panels are fabricated off-site and fitted to the existing wall, and the crew clears out before every prayer.
Yes. Lighting is specified with the millwork, not added afterward, so channels, drivers and cable runs are built into the joinery. The electrical work is done by licensed electricians and the scenes are set up before we leave.
Yes, and many communities do. A mihrab alone changes the room. The design is drawn so that screens, a minbar or a calligraphy band can be added later and look as if they were always there.
Send a few photos and the approximate size of the room. You will have a first idea and a budget range within the week, at no cost, and a date to walk the building together.
Serving New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
