Hadid and Foster up for Mecca redesign

Two of Britain's most accomplished architects, Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid, are in the running for the single most audacious renovation in history: the redevelopment of Mecca.

The plan, which is backed by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdul
Aziz, involves a complete redesign of Islam's holiest city which is host every year to three million Haj pilgrims. The development would more than triple the central al-Haram mosque's current 900,000 capacity, making it the highest-occupancy building in the world.

However, it is far from a done deal for the two British architects. They will have to present the King with their proposals, along with 16 other designers.

Clearly the matter is a sensitive subject for Iraqi-born Hadid, whose buildings, with their fragmented geometry, evoke the chaos of modern life. She would not comment on the potential commission, and nor would Foster, whose work, like Hadid's, is drawn very much from the modernistic Western canon and, some might say, far removed from traditional Muslim architecture. ·