The project investigates how contemporary design and fabrication tools could recreate the aesthetic qualities and passive environmental strategies found at Petra, Jordan. The ancient Nabatean capital is characterised by an architecture that worked with its landscape to employ passive cooling strategies and water collection in its rock cut spaces.

These topics are explored in a centre for the built environment in Downtown Amman. The building acts as an exhibition space and construction laboratory where the public can navigate and experience the spatial conditions of Jordan’s ancient architecture. The ambition is that the building could encourage an increase in construction using these passive cooling techniques whilst developing a new architectural identity for the city derived from its local traditions.