“The Haj terminal was built to accommodate the vast influx of pilgrims arriving by plane at Jeddah on their way to Mecca; Jeddah is the only large city close to the Holy City, and all pilgrims on the annual Hajj pilgrimage must proceed from there by land. The project required a facility to cater to a large volume of people with highly diverse needs, in transit for approximately six weeks. It needed to accommodate 50,000 pilgrims at one time for periods of up to 18 hours and a further 80,000 pilgrims for periods of up to 36 hours during the transfer from air to land transport.“ Pages 56-57.

Continuing our archives series, posting articles on projects in Jeddah by international architects and firms. This article was featured in MIMAR issue 40, published in September 1991. It is one of the projects that has been awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in the second cycle of the awards, back in 1983.  The terminal is comprised of 10 such modules: two identical five-module sections separated by a landscaped mall.

References:

1. Khan, Hasan-Uddin. (1991, September). Saudi Arabia: The Haj Terminal, King Abdul Aziz International Airport. In Mimar 40: Architecture in development (pp. 56–57). Concept Media Ltd.