Queen Alia International Airport, Amman, Jordan Architecture, Architect, Image, Design, Project

Queen Alia International Airport Amman

Contemporary Jordanian Building design by Foster + Partners

3 Jan 2014

This building is one of our picks from Buildings of 2013 : Architecture of the Year

e-architect’s selection of key architectural developments posted on the site in the last year

22 Mar 2013

Queen Alia International Airport Building

A highly efficient passive design, inspired by local traditions.

Gateway to Amman

Design: Foster + Partners

photo © Nigel Young – Foster + Partners

The architects have produced a majestic, elegant building for Jordan. The have taken the repetitive pattern and top-lit concept of their earlier Stansted Airport building and improved it with a wonderful treatment of concrete. The building is a heavyweight, concrete flowing but controlled – articulated by well-placed joints.

It seems like a return to the serious concrete structures of the past (Kahn, etc.) and certainly back to the simple power of Chep Lap Kok Airport – compared to some of the more lightweight structures in the practice’s oeuvre. This is successful, confident architecture that is infused with Middle Eastern traditions – rather than ignoring the local culture or indeed slavishly copying it – gaining power from the simplicity of the roof matrix.
How much does your building weigh Mr Foster?

Adrian Welch, e-architect Editor

22 Mar 2013 – Today marked the official opening of Queen Alia International Airport, the spectacular new gateway to Amman. The airport has a highly efficient passive design, which has been inspired by local traditions, and is based on a flexible modular solution that allows for future expansion – the new building secures the city’s position as the main hub for the Levant region and allows the airport to grow by 6 per cent per annum for the next twenty-five years, increasing capacity from 3.5 million to 12 million passengers per annum by 2030.

photo © Nigel Young – Foster + Partners

In response to Amman’s climate, where summer temperatures vary markedly between day and night time, the building is constructed largely from concrete, the high thermal mass of the material providing passive environmental control. The tessellated roof canopy comprises a series of shallow concrete domes, which extend to shade the facades – each dome provided a modular unit for construction.

The domes branch out from the supporting columns like the leaves of a desert palm and daylight floods the concourse through split beams at the column junctions. Echoing the veins of a leaf, a geometric pattern based on traditional Islamic forms is applied to each exposed soffit. The complex geometry of the roof shells and fabrication strategy was developed in conjunction with Foster + Partners in-house geometry specialists.

photo © Nigel Young – Foster + Partners

Two piers of departure gates run along either side of the central building, which contains the main processing areas and shops, lounges and restaurants. Between these volumes, open-air courtyards – a feature of vernacular architecture in the region – contribute to the terminal’s environmental strategy: the plants and trees help to filter pollution and pre-condition the air before it is drawn into the air handling system and reflecting pools bounce indirect natural light into the airport.