Sanaa صنعة

Islamic architectural millwork

Transform the room you already have.

Qibla walls, screens and calligraphy for mosques, Islamic schools and institutions. Designed for your building, made in our New Jersey workshop, installed by one team.

Show us your space See your room transform

See it in your room

One room. Three directions.

The same ordinary prayer hall, three ways. Choose a direction, then drag across the room to see before and after.

    Start in this direction
    Prayer hall as purchased: plain wall, drop ceiling, green prayer carpet
    The same hall with a modern qibla wall
    As purchased With Sanaa
    Other buildings:

    Concept renderings. Every space is surveyed and designed to its own proportions.

    What we make

    Four elements. One wall.

    Each piece is drawn to your building, cut and finished in our workshop, and installed by the people who made it. Every one is available in a traditional or a modern language.

    Carved walnut mihrab with a lit plaster niche

    Mihrab

    محراب

    The still point of the wall. Carved surround, recessed niche, or a flat panel where the wall cannot be opened.

    Walnut minbar with pierced geometric balustrades

    Minbar

    منبر

    Solid enough to lean on, carved to be looked at for years. Freestanding or built into the wall.

    Backlit walnut screens in an eight-pointed star pattern

    Screens

    مشربية

    Pattern, privacy and light in one plane. Partitions, wainscot and ceiling panels in one geometry.

    Brass-inlaid calligraphy panel beside a carved screen

    Calligraphy

    خط

    The words the room is for, in wood and brass. Chosen with your imam, drawn by a calligrapher.

    Sisters' hall as found: bare walls and folding chairs
    The same sisters' hall with a lit niche, pierced screens, a carved panel, bench seating and storage
    As purchased With Sanaa

    The sisters' hall

    Designed, not left over.

    Most sisters' halls are the room that was available, with a speaker on the wall. We design them as a mosque in their own right.

    A lit niche to mark the qibla. Screens that connect the room to the main hall. And the things the room is actually used for: benches, storage for prayer garments and strollers, a place for children, and clear sound from the imam.

    Plan a sisters' hall

    For institutions

    A prayer room people are glad to find.

    Hospitals, universities, airports and offices. A standard system that turns a spare room into a calm, dignified place to pray, specified with your architect and installed in days.

    Multi-faith prayer room as found: bare wall, upholstered bench, empty shelf
    The same room with a lit qibla niche, a pierced screen panel, a walnut shoe bench and a prayer mat shelf
    As purchased With Sanaa
    Compact prayer room with glass door, lit niche with a qibla marker, screen panel, walnut shoe bench and shelves

    The prayer room system

    • Lit qibla niche, surface-mounted, no structural work
    • Pierced screen panel
    • Walnut bench with shoe storage
    • Shelving for prayer mats and garments
    Request the prayer room spec

    Who we serve

    Mosques, schools, and the places in between.

    The same workshop and the same elements, sized to the room and the budget in front of you.

    Mosques

    Main halls, sisters' halls, entrances and signage. Phased to your campaign, starting with the mihrab.

    Schools and centres

    Prayer halls, donor walls and wayfinding that carry one identity through the building.

    Institutions

    Prayer rooms for hospitals, universities, airports and offices, delivered as one system.

    Businesses

    Reception walls, screens and calligraphy for restaurants, clinics and offices.

    How it works

    One team, start to finish.

    Sanaa is the millwork studio of a licensed New Jersey builder with its own CNC workshop. We draw it, cut it, finish it and install it.

    1. 01 Survey

      We walk the building with you.

      Measure the wall. Listen to what the community wants to feel when they enter.

    2. 02 Design

      You see it in your own hall.

      Drawings, a rendering, a fixed price and a schedule, before anything is cut.

    3. 03 Make

      Cut by machine, finished by hand.

      Joined, sanded and finished in our workshop. Visit while it is on the bench.

    4. 04 Install

      The hall stays open.

      Our own crew, around the prayer schedule, with a walkthrough before we leave.

    Backlit where the wall allows

    Screens and niches lit from within, with the wiring concealed in the joinery.

    No closure

    Panels are made off-site and fitted to the existing wall. The crew clears out before every prayer.

    Start with the mihrab

    Add screens, a minbar or calligraphy later. Everything is drawn so it belongs together.

    One document. One vote.

    Drawings, a rendering of your actual hall, a fixed price for the agreed scope and an installation date. The renderings are yours for the campaign from day one. If conditions or scope change, nothing proceeds without written approval.

    Start here

    Show us your space.

    Send a few photos and the approximate size of the room. Within the week, at no cost, you receive:

    1. A first idea sketched on your own photo, in the direction you chose.
    2. A realistic budget range before anyone visits.
    3. A date to walk the building together.

    New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

    hello@sanaa.build
    (973) 000-0000
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