The Western Hajj Terminal, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in 1981, has been transformed into the opening venue for the inaugural edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale 2023 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The 1983 Aga Khan Award for Architecture went to the Western Hajj Terminal.
Sumayya Vally, an architect from South Africa and the founder of Counterspace, is in charge of curating the first Islamic Arts Biennale alongside a team that includes prominent Saudi scholars and archaeologists Saad Alrashed, Omniya Abdel Barr, a Barakat Trust Fellow at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Julian Raby, Director Emeritus of the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.
A variety of ancient and modern artworks are on display over 120,000 square metres of exhibition space as part of the Islamic Arts Biennale 2023. OMA Partner Iyad Alsaka, Associate Kaveh Dabiri, and Project Architect Saskia Simon are in charge of the exhibition design. The scenography was created by OMA by separating the exhibition space into two halves. The “newly created galleries” in the first section introduce “a choreographed trajectory,” giving viewers “a gradual sense of orientation as they pass from one room to the next.”
The concept of the Qiblah, or the direction Muslims face while they pray, served as inspiration for the studio in order to accomplish this. The trip of visitors gradually manifested from “darkness to light.” The exhibition that is planned for the terminal’s canopy makes up the second section. This area is set up to resemble “a desert-like landscape,” which relates to the Prophet Mohamed’s journey from Makkah to Madinah during the Hijrah.
OMA carefully sculpts slopes and slanted walls in a range of heights, arranging them in accordance with the geometry of the existing building. The artwork is displayed on the slanted walls, which fosters “an exploration-like feeling throughout the visit.”
Additionally, there are two independent pavilions that display artifacts from Madinah and Makkah and serve as landmarks in the surrounding open space. The studio presents the exhibitions in the two pavilions in a bright, translucent screen that wraps the perimeter of the walls, in contrast to the gritty environment outside.
The fabric ceiling of the West Hajj Terminal is supported by steel columns and cable stays. OMA Associate Kaveh Dabiri claims that the design enhances the space’s natural features. OMA Associate Kaveh Dabiri said: “Our scenography design aims to create a space that works with the cable-stayed, fabric-roof of the Hajj Terminal – a seminal piece of modern architecture known to Muslims around the world – literally reinventing it as an umbrella for Islamic Arts.”
Items from twelve domestic and foreign institutions, including Kuwait’s Al Sabah Collection of Islamic art, are displayed in the gallery along with a tribute exhibition to the Hajj Terminal, both of which are commemorating their 40th anniversaries.