150 architecture students working in Grand Mosque expansion project

More than 150 architecture students have participated in the historic project for the expansion of the Grand Mosque in Makkah.

Sabry Shahatah, a member of the Grand Mosque Expansion Project;s Technical Committee, said around 50 percent of all architecture students in the Kingdom contributed to the project.

“There are a total of 16 architecture colleges in the Kingdom. Around 50 percent of their students participated in the field supervision of the project. All of the students worked really hard and the project gave them real exposure to the work environment,” said Shahatah.

He added that the project gave the students an opportunity to witness the application to all the theories they have studied.

“The project is very huge and offered opportunities for several branches of architecture and engineering, including electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. The first institution to participate in the project was Umm Al-Qura University’s Architecture College,” said Shahatah.

He said by 2010 there were 30 students participating in the project.

“The number of participating students increased to 72 by 2011. They included 52 students from Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah and 20 students from King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah.

By 2012, six new students participated from Taif University, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran and Baha’s King Saud University,” said Shahatah.

He also said participating in this project would give the students the knowledge and experience to work for companies with a regional caliber.

“This project is among the biggest construction projects in the Middle East. Many international architects would love to have this project in their profile. The Saudi students have all worked very hard and were not an impediment to the advancement of the project,” said Shahatah.

He said the entire mataf (circumambulation area around the Holy Kaaba) will be open to pilgrims soon as the cleaning phase after the removal of the temporary mataf bridge will finish by Tuesday.

The temporary mataf had a capacity of 30,000 pilgrims an hour. Now in the expanded mataf, which took more than three years to complete, a total of 107,000 worshippers can perform the tawaf ritual an hour, Shahatah said.