Al Haram Mosque, Mecca

The Al-Haram Mosque in Mecca needs to be extended, tripling the present capacity to two million pilgrims during the annual Muslim Hajj. The King Abdallah Grand Expansion Project of the Al-Haram Mosque will first allow a total capacity of more than 1.5 million pilgrims annually.

While retaining the existing buildings, new service spaces and infrastructures will be installed on an orthogonal grid around the mosque. The open space of the courtyards and plazas will extend into the streets around the site and will be covered by umbrellas that are operable and allow night-time prayer under the starry sky and also protect pilgrims from the hot sun during the day.

The facilities will be extended into the valley and hills north of the mosque. To accommodate this extension a circle with a radius of 660 metres was defined around the Kaaba, setting the new outer edge of the site dedicated to the Al-Haram Mosque.The area north of the mosque has already been cleared in order to start work on the extension.