MECCA | Abraj Al-Bait | 601m | 1972ft | 95 fl | T/O

[Albicaulis]

All religious issues and cultural commentary aside; this project, as a stand alone piece of archicture, is pretty bad.

The enginnering, construction and sheer magnitude of this building is extremely impressive and I find it fascinating, despite my views on the actual finished product.

As the Eiffel Tower is the classic example of a contemporarily despised masterpiece, I cannot comment on how future generation will view this building.

[FTP]

Originally Posted by Boquillas

People keep repeating the Vegas thing, but don't seem to have a clue what's going on architecturally here or there. The Bellagio and the Venetian are cheap imitations of Venetian architecture, which in turn was once its own cheap imitation of Moorish North African Islamic architecture. This is actual Islamic architecture-- more correctly a palimpsest of the many cultural manifestations it has taken over the years. One can see the Alhambra, the Dome of the Rock, Al-Masjid al-Nabawi, on and on.

But why educate yourself about these things?

I'm not a fan of the building, but it doesn't take a lot of architecture or art history classes to know where these elements and motifs come from.

Also, @CroBurnham: the hubris elements of the building are most decidedly western-inspired. Nobody does hubris better than Americans. The art-deco Chrysler building seemed uncommonly garish and cheap to many who derided its flat, riveted, unadorned steel in simple radiating geometric patterns, which were at odds with the ornament and filigree of the predominant Beaux-Arts styles at the time. And it was fantastically, egomaniacally tall, too. But hey, it's great now, huh?

Chrysler building is an honest, streamlined, yet bold phantasmagorical tribute to the essence of height of civilization itself. It was built in an era of unforeseen cultural reinvention of architectural limits themselves. Even without its height, the Chrysler building stamps an eternal imprint of human achievement in a way no other image can.

The Abraj does none of this.

[simms3_redux]

Mecca, a holy city, has been officially turned into a shrine of wealth and power instead. Pilgrims will now make the journey to worship, but not before gazing in awe at the wealth, magnificence and power of their religion. How pathetic. Glad we're not giving this one props just to be PC, and if I were allowed to visit Mecca, it would be to see the Masjid al-Haram and the Kaaba, not this offensive homage to Islamic architecture. This thing would be only half as offensive if it were in Vegas as an Arabic themed hotel/casino...that's really where it belongs. Of course it wouldn't have been so bad if they had put it in Jeddah either (still ugly of course...nothing could possibly change that).

[NewYorkDominates]

Originally Posted by FTP

Chrysler building is an honest, streamlined, yet bold phantasmagorical tribute to the essence of height of civilization itself. It was built in an era of unforeseen cultural reinvention of architectural limits themselves. Even without its height, the Chrysler building stamps an eternal imprint of human achievement in a way no other image can.

The Abraj does none of this.

+1 Word.

[Tom In Chicago]

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[Inkoumori]

Worth reading;
A well reasoned critique from The Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesi...itecture-hajj1

The developers have somehow transformed a type of architecture that evolved from a dense urban grain of low-rise courtyards and narrow streets into meaningless wallpaper: an endlessly repeatable pattern for the decoration of standardised slab after standardised slab.

Alawi describes the imminent arrival of yet more seven-star hotels even closer to the mosque than the al-Bait clocktower, as well as proposals to develop Jabal Khandama, on the hills to the east, which will likely see the erasure of the site where the prophet Muhammad was born. Alawi says this wilful destruction of Islamic heritage is no accident: it is driven by state-endorsed wahhabism, the hardline interpretation of Islam that perceives historical sites as encouraging sinful idolatry. So anything that relates to the prophet could be in the bulldozer's sights.

The building work has inevitably changed the hajj experience for everyone. Aside from the increased pollution and heavy machinery, there is more segregation along economic and class lines.

[VelvetElvis]

I saw the rendering of this building some time ago and only quickly noted that it would be built in Mecca. I thought it not altogether curious because of the supertall building trends in some arab countries. I had no idea it was built in such proximity and with obvious concern for the Kaaba! I just wrapped up the Islamic art section in my art history course which included images (bird's eye view) of believers wrapping up their hajj by circumambulating the Kaaba. Now I'm going to have to show my students that new image of the veneration occuring at the base of that gigantic contemporary monolith! I have no immediate opinion of what kind of real or symbolic effect the building will have on Islam, but I can't help but sense it will be powerful. Is the building meant to evoke a minaret? Wow...

[VelvetElvis]

Great article Ivymike. I'm a little embarrassed that I teach topics that orbit this stuff in college but find myself so suddenly uninformed about what is happening in Mecca. (In my defense, Islamic art is hardly a specialty of mine.) Of course it makes sense that realestate is so expensive near the mosque and that all the construction is oriented so that it is facing the Kaaba. I do feel like I just stepped out of a time machine though. Suddenly I realize the year is 2012 and the world looks nothing like it did just a few years ago. Unbelieveable the pace of change! And this much change can't easily be assimilated. The reverberations (whether positive or negative) must be epic in the Islamic world!

[GulfArabia]

Pictures: Mecca clock tower hugging clouds

بالصور: ساعة برج مكة المكرمة تعانق السحب




























http://arabic.arabianbusiness.com/ga...oct/24/261981/

[GulfArabia]

Originally Posted by Roukaya19

A new render...

http://www.tareebnews.com/news.php?action=show&id=25150

Originally Posted by Naif Saudi

This photo contains many projects

[GulfArabia]

Originally Posted by Naif Saudi

:nuts::nuts:

Alot has changed

[LSyd]

if the proportions were better (2/3 size maybe?) it would be gorgeous. as is, it's fugly.

-

[ThatOneGuy]

^^ What the hell! Is that the view?? Looked like it was taken from a helicopter! I was actually looking for the building in that picture!

[Salakast]

Ok fine, I'll be the one to disagree with the popular opinions here. I don't like the Saudi government nor do I think many construction projects in Saudi Arabia are needed at all, BUT I do think this building is gorgeous IMO. It's enormous and I think the architecture really suits Mecca. It has sort of a powerful tone to it as well. Also, it has a nice blend of the historic Islam look with the powerful modern globalist look. If I were Muslim and this was the first thing I saw on my pilgrimage to Mecca, I would probably feel more spiritual than ever.

[Ed007Toronto]

Enormous and very ugly. Sorry.

[Crawford]

This might be the most grotesque and offensive project I have ever seen.

It basically insults the 1.7 billion Muslims at their holiest site, while producing a caricture of a design that offends anyone with functioning eyes.

[06hdfxdwg]

Beside the fact that it looks like it's built in the middle of Bumf**k pennsyltucky,it's way too gawdy and in short,is about the ugliest building i think i've ever laid eyes on. It's like they built this thing in the middle of the frikken desert and theres absolutely nothing around it to compliment it. It sticks out like a sore thumb. LMFAO

[LMich]

While the proportions are horrible, and the architecture is cheap-looking, postmodern trash that should offend both modern and classic sensibilities, I think it's silly to say it's "built in the middle of nowhere." Mecca a metropolitan area of nearly 3 million people built on some very interesting terrain just 50 miles inland from the largest port on the Red Sea and second largest city in Saudi Arabia. This isn't some physical backwater.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by Duck From NY

We loathe it because, to us, it looks hideous. There's not much new here. Building big buildings to attract attention and display wealth is not new. Nor is this the first time someone has tried to create a mean time (in this case, a new mean time) in the name of supposed cultural-superiority.

Those Cathedrals you spoke of revolutionized architecture and created new styles. To me, this building signifies a very tacky "new gold" sense of unearned arrogance.

I get your point about Cathedrals being over-the-top and possibly even wasteful for their time, but do you really think the Al-Baijwhatever will stand the test of time like this beauty has?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laon_Cathedral

Could not have said it better myself.

[VelvetElvis]

Conversations about "taste" are a waste of time. Even Kant didn't succeed in laying out objective aesthetic standards. What the Saudis have given us is a structure that fits into Islamic architectural tradition pretty well in some ways. Historically, Muslims have been taking structures from other traditions (in particular Judeo-Christian traditions) and adding to them. They borrowed so much from Byzantine church designs in past ages. Here, they stick with that impulse of "finishing up" other culture's structures. After all, Islam sees itself as the extension and end game of the Hebrew Bible. So they borrow the skyscraper from western culture and put an Islamic skin and top on it and plop it down in Mecca. This is a very consistent approach from the Nation of Islam. Whether you like the look of the structure or not is beside the point. It seems to be built as a call to prayer and faith while also a means of projecting power and influence. So the question really becomes, pass or fail? I don't think it has succeeded in raising many eyebrows in the west. 99% of westerners are probably unaware of its existence. So, to narrow this down, what effect has it, or will it have on Muslims. As many have already noted, it seems to represent a line in the sand between wealth and power within Islam and those who are simple believers and/or constitute the average core of the culture. Again, I think the building's legacy will not be in its aesthetic, but in the effect it produces in the Islamic culture. you can't plop this kind of structure down in the middle of Mecca and expect it to have no impact!