Architect Wilfried Kuehn has designed a striking brick building, with a tall, square central tower for communal meetings and separate houses of worship for the three faiths. Known as the House of One, the project already has an architect – chosen by competition – and a site: Petriplatz in the heart of Berlin. The project is the brainchild of three religious leaders: Gregor Hohberg, a Protestant pastor, Rabbi Tovia Ben-Chorin and Imam Kadir Sanci. "From my Jewish point of view the city where Jewish suffering was planned is now the city where a centre is being built by the three monotheistic religions which shaped European culture," he told the BBC. Imam Kadir Sanci, the House of One's Muslim leader, said he wanted the project to encourage a conscious dialogue between different faiths and cultures, which would help prejudices against Muslims to evaporate. Each of the three areas in the House will be the same size, but of a different shape, architect Wilfried Kuehn points out. Image copyright Getty Images 
 
 "Each of the singular spaces is designed according to the religious needs, the particularities of each faith," he says. Architect Wilfried Kuehn with his model "We quickly agreed that something visionary and forward looking should be built on what is the founding site of Berlin," said Gregor Hohberg, the Protestant pastor who initiated the project. Petriplatz was the site of the first church in Berlin, dating back to the 12th century, which was badly damaged at the end of World War II and subsequently destroyed by the East German authorities. When, six years ago, archaeologists uncovered remains from an ancient graveyard at the site, it was "quickly agreed that something visionary and forward looking should be built on what is the founding site of Berlin," Hohberg said. Money is now being raised to turn the architects' plans into bricks and mortar. Kuehn's model The plans for the House of One indicate that while the building will contain a separate synagogue, church and mosque under one roof, there will also be a large central area, in which members of the three faiths and others can meet and contemplate. He was convinced that multicultural, multi-faith Berlin was the right city in which to open a house of worship for three religions.
– A pastor, a rabbi, and an imam walk onto an empty lot, and ... bury their shoes. Why? Because they plan to build what may be the world's first interfaith facility with separate houses of worship for Christians, Jews, and Muslims, the BBC reports. Dubbed the "House of One," the downtown Berlin project will include separate designs for each building—with an organ in the church, a foot-washing area in the mosque, and two levels in the mosque and the synagogue (but just one in the church). It will also offer shared space where worshipers can mingle and contemplate, notes the Independent. So can they all get along? "We can," said Rabbi Tovia Ben Chorin, one of the leaders involved. "That there are people within each group who can't is our problem but you have to start somewhere and that's what we are doing," he added. They've already found an architect and launched a crowd-funding campaign; construction will start once $10 million is in the bank, Haaretz reports. The site once housed St Petri's Church, Berlin's first, which was built in the 12th century and destroyed by invading Russians during World War II. When archaeologists discovered an ancient graveyard there 6 years ago, it led to talk of a new place of worship and eventually the "House of One." Says Im am Kadir Sanci, the project's Muslim leader: "We want our children to have a future in which diversity is the norm."