Foster and Hadid to Redesign Mecca

For 14 centuries, countless millions of Muslims, men and women from the four corners of the earth, have made the pilgrimage to Mecca or Makkah al Mukarammah, the birthplace of Islam. The unique sanctity of Makkah, make people who ever go for hajj want to come again and again. But the capacity of the mosque must be redesign and indeed it will doing by Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid who have been lined up to take on one of the most high-profile projects on earth – the redevelopment of Mecca
This huge project backed by King Abdullah ben Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia who has asked a hand-picked collection of starchitects to ‘establish a new architectural vision’ for the 356,800m2 mosque complex.
According to sources, that I quote from AJ, the scheme for Islam’s holiest city could create a huge new structure around the central Haram mosque that will eventually be capable of holding three million people, making it the ‘highest occupancy’ building in the world.
Every year, more than three million people make a pilgrimage to the Saudi city of Mecca, known as the Hajj.
Most people know well, the news that Foster + Partners and Zaha Hadid Architects are to work on one of the greatest logistical, symbolic and scalar challenges on earth – the redevelopment of Islam’s most important site of pilgrimage, Mecca.
Well from now on we have to be patient to see the results of this megaproject.
May Allah give me a chance to go to Mecca with my all families one day... amen
source : http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk (also the picture)