Jordan architecture designs, Amman buildings

Jordan Architecture Designs: Buildings News

Post updated 22 April 2026

Jordan Architecture Links – current property designs

e-architect picks the best examples of Jordan Architecture. We aim to include interesting design-led Jordanian buildings and architectural projects.

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Jordan Architecture News

Latest building added:

15 August 2025
Museum of Jesus’ Baptism at Bethany

site photo © Malcolm Reading Consultants

Most significant contemporary architecture in this country:

Queen Alia International Airport, Amman
Design: Foster + Partners

photo © Nigel Young – Foster + Partners
The architectural design for this building combines function, technology and a distinct sense of place to provide a greatly expanded and enhanced gateway to the region.

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Ancient & Classical Architecture

• Nabatean Petra: world-famous heritage site – monumental rock-cut facades like the Treasury and the Monastery, carved directly into rose-red sandstone cliffs using simple iron tools, paired with advanced water-conduit and dam systems.
• Roman & Byzantine Ruins: cities like Jerash feature extensive colonnaded streets, oval plazas, and grand arches, while Madaba and surrounding sites showcase intricate 5th-century Byzantine floor mosaics.
• Umayyad Desert Castles: 7th- and 8th-century desert retreats like Quseir Amra and the Umayyad Palace on the Amman Citadel feature domed audience halls, elaborate stonework, and early Islamic frescoes.

Modern & Contemporary Design

Modern projects bridge local heritage with global engineering, including the sculptural concrete shallow domes of Queen Alia International Airport by London’s Foster + Partners, the Bedouin-inspired curvilinear shotcrete shells of the Ayla Golf Club by Oppenheim Architecture (USA), and also their rammed-earth or quarry-embedded designs at Wadi Rum.

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Key New Amman Buildings. Contemporary Property Developments in Middle East, Asia:

6 November 2024
The Frame House, Amman, Dabouq, Amman
Design: Paradigm DH

photo : Mohammad Al Masri
Nestled amidst the vibrant tapestry of Amman, Jordan, the Frame Residence, designed by Paradigm DH, stands as a testament to contemporary architectural elegance

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21 Apr 2011
Wadi Rum Lodges
Architects: Oppenheim Architecture + Design

image from architect
Wadi Rum Lodges
International “green” architect Chad Oppenheim sets a new benchmark for design and ecological sensitivity with the Wadi Resort—located in Wadi Rum, Jordan, set for completion in 2014. Oppenheim Architecture + Design (OAD) beat out a global competition and will execute an unprecedented project comprised of 47 desert lodges, setting forth a future primitive experience for the avid globetrotter, an hour and a half outside of Petra, the ancient city of the Nebataeans carved into the desert rock.

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16 June 2020
Yarauvi Floating Necropolis in The Dead Sea
Design: Miró Rivera Architects

images courtesy of architects practice

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15 May 2018
Capital Bank in Amman
Architecture: PARADIGM DH

image courtesy of architects practice

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11 Jun 2014
Jordan River Peace Park, Old Gesher three-bridge compound in Israel, close to border with Jordan.

photo courtesy Friends of Earth Middle East

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Jordan Architecture Designs

Jordan Buildings, alphabetical:

Bridging the Rift Research facility, Wadi Araba, southern Jordan
2007-
Design: SOM

King Abdullah II House of Culture & Art Building
Design: Zaha Hadid Architects

building image from Zaha Hadid
King Abdullah II House of Culture & Art
This major new Jordanian building – a performing arts and cultural centre – includes a 1600-seat concert theatre, 400-seat theatre, educational centre, rehearsal rooms, and galleries.

‘Living Wall’ project, Amman, northern Jordan
Design: Foster + Partners

image © Foster + Partners
Amman Building
Living Wall is a 150,000-square-metre mixed-use complex set on an excavated rock shelf at the base of a sheer cliff face in the centre of Amman.

Petra Visitors’ Centre, Arabah, Ma’an Governorate, Jordan, southern Jordan
Design: Edward Cullinan Architects

picture from architect
Petra building
Petra is a magical place for the other-worldliness of its topography and geology alone. The power of this landscape must have inspired the Nabateans to make it their sacred home, carving the rock over many centuries to create their city.