The project explores notions of security architecture and the conservative approach to interfacing with the public. It challenges the traditions of secure spaces using the context of a new headquarters for the Arab League in Amman, Jordan. This brings together the Arab League states, many with a history of conflict, and hosts them in a neutral space. The project uses the country’s abundant resource of sand to achieve a high security space that facilitates public interaction without the need for aggressive fortification.

The design strategy of the site is focused on ‘sand flooding’, which changes the accessibility and security of the building. During events, the landscape is flooded and subsequently drained when the event has finished, returning the space to public use. Underground, a zoning strategy sections the spaces into private, public and shared. These zones interlace via controlled connection points that subsequently govern circulation.