Intercontinental Hotel and Conference Centre

Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Recipient of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1980.

This 2'000 seat conference center and 170-room hotel is a synthesis of advanced structural techniques and revived local artistic traditions that had become almost extinct. In their directness and simplicity, the vernacular details and finishes, such as the suspended wooden lattices, accent the machined elegance of the aluminium-clad conference centre. The latter is structurally quite sophisticated, consisting of tent-like roofs suspended from steel masts. A small mosque, also shaded by a suspended lattice, is made of local basaltic stone. The jury commended this project as "an effort to combine modern technology and functional forms in the context of Islamic culture."

Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture