SOS Village, Aqaba
Location
Aqaba
Aqaba
Country
Jordan
Jordan
Architect/Engineer/Team
Jafar Tukan
Jafar Tukan
Construction
1988/1991
1988/1991
Project Status
Built
Built
Building Type
Orphanage
Orphanage
Notes
Winner of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2001.
Located in the low-density outskirts of the city of Aqaba on the Red Sea, this was the second village of its kind to be constructed in Jordan. The orphanage is designed as a cluster of two-storey buildings containing nine family houses, a kindergarten, an administration building, staff housing, a sports hall, retail, and a service block. By including facilities to be shared with the local community, the project aimed to integrate the existing urban fabric and social environment.
The project is a play between two different scales, that of the village and that of the child. It consists of a modern reinterpretation of local vernacular stone building, resulting in an environmentally sustainable design that employs local granite, traditional ventilation techniques and vocabulary. At the scale of the village, this manifests in the planning of private spaces like housing and administration in clusters around the village square, forming shaded courtyards accessible through vaulted archways. Attention to tradition is also visible in the use of mashrabiyyas (latticework) for ventilation, and through the use of midmak, a traditional type of stone facing that avoids mechanically-cut stone in favor of local craftsmanship. Traditionally wooden tension members are replaced with pre-cast reinforced concrete frames. The architect has used a deep pink stone which is seen in many of Aqaba's traditional buildings, yet is becoming less and less popular in new buildings. The use of this material can therefore be seen as a statement on the risk of identity loss.
Located in the low-density outskirts of the city of Aqaba on the Red Sea, this was the second village of its kind to be constructed in Jordan. The orphanage is designed as a cluster of two-storey buildings containing nine family houses, a kindergarten, an administration building, staff housing, a sports hall, retail, and a service block. By including facilities to be shared with the local community, the project aimed to integrate the existing urban fabric and social environment.
The project is a play between two different scales, that of the village and that of the child. It consists of a modern reinterpretation of local vernacular stone building, resulting in an environmentally sustainable design that employs local granite, traditional ventilation techniques and vocabulary. At the scale of the village, this manifests in the planning of private spaces like housing and administration in clusters around the village square, forming shaded courtyards accessible through vaulted archways. Attention to tradition is also visible in the use of mashrabiyyas (latticework) for ventilation, and through the use of midmak, a traditional type of stone facing that avoids mechanically-cut stone in favor of local craftsmanship. Traditionally wooden tension members are replaced with pre-cast reinforced concrete frames. The architect has used a deep pink stone which is seen in many of Aqaba's traditional buildings, yet is becoming less and less popular in new buildings. The use of this material can therefore be seen as a statement on the risk of identity loss.
Sources
Aga Khan Award
Jafar Tukan Architecture (Abu Ghanimeh, Pisani), pp. 39-40, 74-79
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Source: Aga Khan Award for Architecture
© © Aga Khan Award for Architecture
Drawings of a house
Source: Aga Khan Award for Architecture
© © Aga Khan Award for Architecture
Mass plan
Source: Aga Khan Award for Architecture
© © Aga Khan Award for Architecture