Although there are close to 1,000 mosques or Islamic centers of worship in the United States, they are still an architectural novelty in North America. A lecture on "Approaches to Mosque Design in North America" at DePaul University April 12 will provide insight as to what results when eastern architecture meets western landscape.

     The lecture by Omar Khalidi, an expert on Islamic architecture, will be held in the Richardson Library, 2350 N. Kenmore Ave., on the fourth floor at 7 p.m. Khalidi's photographs and architectural drawings of mosques in North America, on exhibit at the library, will serve as a backdrop to his talk.

     Khalidi is an independent scholar at the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. Khalidi has published extensively on Islamic structural design and worked for the School of Architecture King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia for eight years. He holds a degree in Islamic studies from the University of Wales in the United Kingdom and a master's of arts degree from Harvard.

     The lecture and exhibition are part of DePaul's "Exploring Muslim Cultures" (EMC) series that runs through July 15. The series includes courses, exhibitions, lectures and special events and is designed to promote a better understanding of Islam. All events and exhibitions are free and open to the public. For more information on EMC call 773/325-7863 or visit the Web site www.exploringmuslimculture.com.