Medina Haram Piazza Shading Umbrellas
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Medina Haram Piazza Shading Umbrellas or Al-Masjid An-Nabawi Umbrellas are convertible umbrellas erected at the piazza of Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in
Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...
,
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. The shade of the umbrella is spread in the four corners, and the area covered by the shade extends to 143,000 square meters. These umbrellas are aimed to protect worshipers from the heat of the sun during
prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified ...
, as well as from the risk of slipping and falling in the event of rain. Similar structures are built at the square of the mosques worldwide. At Al-Masjid An-Nabawi, there are a total of 250 umbrellas.


Project

The concept was originally created by the King
Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ( ar, عبدالله بن عبدالعزيز آل سعود ''ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al ʿAzīz Āl Saʿūd'', Najdi Arabic pronunciation: ; 1 August 1924 – 23 January 2015) was King of Saudi Arabia, King and Pri ...
, who ordered the construction of umbrellas for the squares of the mosque, which was overseen by the
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (abbreviation ''CTHM''; ar, خَادِمُ ٱلْحَرَمَيْنِ ٱلشَّرِيفَيْنِ, '), Servant of the Two Noble Sanctuaries or Protector of the Two Holy Cities, is a royal style that has been u ...
. The project was completed in August 2010, which initially included the construction of 182 umbrellas aligning the pillars of the mosques at the square, and later 68 umbrellas were added in the eastern square, totaling 250 umbrellas. The project cost was 4.7 billion riyals.


Design

The
Saudi Binladin Group Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) is a Saudi construction company headquartered in Jeddah, Hejaz. It is the largest construction company of the Middle East. The company is owned primarily by the Bin Laden family. Founded by Muhammad Binladin in 1931, ...
has contracted the project's structural planning with the German architectural company
SL Rasch GmbH Special and Lightweight Structures The SL Rasch GmbH Special and Lightweight Structures, based in Stuttgart, Germany, specializes in special and Tensile structure, lightweight structures integrating architecture and engineering. The company was founded by Mahmoud Bodo Rasch. The c ...
led by
Mahmoud Bodo Rasch Mahmoud Bodo Rasch (born 12 May 1943) is a German architect who specializes in the construction of large convertible umbrellas and lightweight structures. He is founder and owner of SL Rasch GmbH Special and Lightweight Structures with branches ...
, who is credited for many architectural projects in the Middle East. From the beginning of the planning, the PTFE fabric was needed to meet the exceptional requirements, as any other fabric does not provide full protection from
ultraviolet Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30  PHz) to 400 nm (750  THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation ...
. The fabric is characterized by high tensile strength, wind strength, and its elasticity, chromatic stability, fire resistance, effective shading and suitable light penetration. The highly durable PTFE white fabric was developed by SEFAR Architecture specifically for the project. The shade is painted in white color due to the intensity of light, and because strong permeability can dazzle people under the umbrella, a sandy texture was chosen instead. In addition, the underside of the umbrellas was decorated with oriental motifs made of blue PTFE stripes.Medina Haram Piazza.
''Architect Magazine''. Retrieved November 14, 2017


Use of Advanced Composites

Each single open umbrella structure of 25 x 25 metre spans an area of 625m2. As the components for each umbrella are so large and also have to withstand potentially extreme climatic conditions, the cladding needed to be made from advanced composites
Premier Composite Technologies LLC
was commissioned to build and install the mosaic tiled, external claddings for all 250 units of foldable umbrellas. The arm claddings and cladding attachments were built from a lightweight composite sandwich structure of glass fibre epoxy resin laminate, providing high torsional stiffness. They were then fixed to the flexible umbrella arm systems. When closed, the arms cover the membrane while additional claddings on top of the arms form a prismatic casing to protect the folded Teflon membrane.


Gallery

File:Flickr - archer10 (Dennis) - Egypt-13A-090.jpg, Shading umbrellas at Al Hussein Mosque,
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...


See also

*
Fan vaulting A fan vault is a form of vault used in the Gothic style, in which the ribs are all of the same curve and spaced equidistantly, in a manner resembling a fan. The initiation and propagation of this design element is strongly associated with Eng ...
*
Awning An awning or overhang is a secondary covering attached to the exterior wall of a building. It is typically composed of canvas woven of acrylic, cotton or polyester yarn, or vinyl laminated to polyester fabric that is stretched tightly over a li ...
* Passive cooling *
Kucheh In traditional Persian architecture, a kucheh or koocheh ( fa, کوچه), is a narrow especially designed alley.Fallāḥʹfar, Saʻīd (). ''The Dictionary of Iranian Traditional Architectural Terms (Farhang-i vāzhahʹhā-yi miʻmārī-i sunna ...


References

{{Islamic architecture Islamic architecture Al-Masjid an-Nabawi Umbrellas Passive cooling