Al-Hussein Youth City, Amman 1962–1968 Architect: Munce and Kennedy. Sports and Culture for a New Nation

A century of Jordanian architecture: narrating the development of the nation

“…Even though it was under direct British Mandate, a new government called for the restructuring of former Ottoman administrative institutions and setting up of new ones to oversee the building of the capital and the new nation, thus leading to the creation of the Public Works Department in 1923 and Municipalities to manage cities. Roads were built and basic infrastructure provided, yet due to the slow growth and lack of funds, most of the governmental services were hosted in rented private residential buildings (Shawash, 2003).…”

“…The analysis offers a critical overview of architectural development, aiming to illustrate and understand the development of the national architectural character and trace different sociopolitical influences, as well as impacts of technological and paradigmatic transformations. The research draws on the analytical categories of Dahabreh (2020) as well as on numerous studies of architecture in Jordan in both the English and Arabic languages that did not offer stylistic categories per se (Kultermann, 1991;Abu Ghanimah, 2003;Shawash, 2003;Tuqan, 2003;Hammad, 2003;Rajjal, 2007;Rjoub, 2016). Key paradigmatic turns in architecture are also reflected in the stylistic progression; the spatial turn is by default reflected in postmodern styles that re-emphasized the relation of architecture and place, while the more recent digital turn is reflected in styles such as parametricism (Carpo, 2013).…”

“…Harrison was educated in the Beaux-Arts tradition and had great interest in the architectural history of the Near East. He thus synthesized different architectural elements of the region, such as the iwan, simple cubic masses, small openings and use of stone for structural purposes, in a modernist structure rich in regional connotations (Shawash, 2003) (see Table 1).…”