The project aims to address issues surrounding the high unemployment rates amongst female university graduates in Jordan. In order to bypass law, many employers do not hire woman as it triggers policy where childcare facilities would have to be provided on site. The building for an engineers' office tackles this head-on by proposing a building where the workspace and crèche are integrated with a novel construction system.
The building explores aspects of beauty and heritage, from biophilic principles of ordered complexity to the predominantly beam and block architecture of Amman. This low cost, yet ornate, building uses pneumatic techniques alongside sprayable concrete (shotcrete) to form the envelope, and steel frame with shotcrete to form the structure. The language of this structure is inspired by the sandstone salt weathering geometries found in the Wadi Rum desert.
To form the building’s envelope, the strategy tested the inflation of a pneumatic material into a 3D printed frame, which was then sprayed with plaster and water.
Ground floor: reception, café and workshop;
First floor: offices, conference and project rooms with a crèche;
Second floor: project rooms and prayer room.