‘From Bauhaus to Mecca,’ on view at Design Museum Den Bosch from 8 November 2025 to 5 April 2026, traces the remarkable journey of architect Dr Mahmoud Bodo Rasch, born into a German Bauhaus family and seemingly destined to follow the modernist traditions of post-war Europe, to his groundbreaking work designing for the millions of pilgrims who gather in Mecca and Medina each year. Curated by Yassine Salihine, the exhibition shows how Rasch blended lightweight engineering, spiritual purpose and large-scale urban design, drawing on his collaboration with Frei Otto and their shared exploration of nature-inspired architectural forms. Rasch’s involvement in an urban planning project for the vast tent city of Mina in Saudi Arabia led him to convert to Islam and, together with Sami Angawi, establish the Hajj Research Centre, where he applied Frei Otto’s Leichtbau principles to the immense spatial and logistical challenges of the annual Hajj. Although his monumental designs, including the world-famous shading structures, have become icons of contemporary Islamic sacred architecture, Rasch himself has remained largely unknown. Bringing together more than 200 models, drawings, photographs and archival objects, the exhibition illuminates a rarely discussed intersection between European modernism and the Islamic religious world, offering a significant rethinking of global architectural history. It also features two large and important textiles lent by the Khalili Collection, adding rare historical depth to its exploration of tradition, innovation and cultural identity.
