Panic-architecture: a reading of the Jamarat bridge

Most works of architecture can be read through the distribution of their inner pathways both in terms of user's cognition of their spatial structures and in terms of easiness and efficacy of the covered distance . This analysis can be assumed as an extremely important information in the particular case of building which are the actual transposition of its pathways.  

former Jamarat bridge

The Jamarat bridge is a very peculiar example of pathway architecture. It is a pedestrian bridge built in Mina, near Mecca, one of the main destination of the Hajj where the stoning of the devil ritual is performed each year by an huge number of pilgrims. The first bridge, built in 1963, was a viaduct whose aim was to drive pilgrims to an upper level so they could throw stones to the three jamrah pillars according to the ritual. In the span of about 40 years more than 1000 pilgrims got killed because of the incredible crowding conditions. In 2004, after about 346 pilgrims got killed and 300 more injured, Saudi authorities decided to demolish the bridge.

The new Jamarat bridge is a multistorey building with sun protection tensostructures for pilgrims walking on the roof terrace.  A bottleneck system and monitoring devices regulate all entry points and separate walkways have been developped for entrance and exit. 

A new project was arranged to be designed taking into account studies on pathways and advanced studies on crowd dynamics. The research conducted with the help of Crowd Dynamics Ltd. are based on the construction of a virtual model of the bulding on which simulations of different crowd situations are performed by means of parametric agent-based modeling. Parameters considered for this kind of analysis rely upon informations about crowd's composition (number of people, average age and gender) and behavior (density, orientation capability and decision time, walking speed etc.) collected in the years during the major stress event and under the worst case of crowding (about 100.000 people equally distributed on the bridge's surface). Smaller crowds with non uniform densities and walking speed are also taken into account to guide the optimal design solution. 

Video analysis of pressure's increase in the crowd

Agent-based simulation of the worst crowding condition

The Jamarat Bridge can be considered one of the most dangerous piece of architecture ever produced. An infrastructure of death where the accident meets the ritual. The stoning of the devil's ritual is actually connected to the myth of Abraham and his opposition to the devil's attempts to prevent him from sacrificing his son Ismael as an offering to God. Ismael was eventually substituted with a sheep as a award for Abraham's faith. On the Jamarat Bridge the ritual of stoning has been  performed  for a long time paying the highest price in terms of human sacrifice. This would have been assumed as a proof of the actual risk of which each islamic pilgrim who's undertaking the pilgrimage must be aware of. The Hajj is indeed a proof of the pilgrim's preparedness to die as was Abraham's preparedness to kill, and ultimately represents a ritual simulation of Jihad.  An architecture which provokes stress conditions, panic and even danger is one of the strongest means of cultural transmission and indoctrination. In this perspective the decision to demolish the old bridge in order to rebuild a safe structure by means of the most advanced technology and of an intelligent design approach, is not a mere eventuality. It marks a more or less conscious but still fundamental shift from religious to secularized architecture. An architectural paradigm based on safety control replaces the former one which relied on the power of the panic-induced control. Therefore, the "be prepared" message of Hijj is eventually performed exclusively as a symbolic ritual. 


readings and web:
S. Truby, EXIT-ARCHITECTURE design between war and peace (Wien, 2008)
http://www.crowddynamics.com/