Building Futures brings together Shahed Saleem’s written and visual research on the British Mosque, to narrate how mosques have emerged, evolved and become established in Britain since the late nineteenth century. Critical texts describe the ways in which mosques have been created through the grassroots, self-funded and self-built endeavours of migrant Muslim communities of diverse backgrounds, as they have settled in Britain. Through this journey of research, writing and designing, Saleem challenges the norms and assumptions of his own architectural training and wider design culture, leading him to ask: where is architectural meaning made, and with whom does authorship actually reside?

Mostly created through the adaptation of existing buildings, from pubs to cinemas, high street banks to domestic terraces, the mosques which emerge from these sites are a combination of cultural histories and architectural styles, resulting in unexpected and original buildings that are powerful expressions of minority community agency and empowerment. This has led to an architecture that exists outside of and runs counter to the conventions of institutionalised design practice, illustrating the way in which migrant Muslim communities remake and reestablish their cultural and religious identities as diasporas.