Category: Architecture
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Two faces of Ammani villa architecture
The contrast cannot be greater. Two villas on the western edge of Amman. Two totally different styles of architecture. I say “styles” because both are rather large houses and share the same rural-urban setting that is typically Amman, where, since the 1970’s the western part of the city has been exploding further westwards, engulfing villages…
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Hello ‘West Amman”: the biggest mall is in East Amman
Now this is an interesting ad. Beituna, an investment company is announcing that the biggest, already constructed mall and commercial center is it’s own Beituna City on Yarmouk Street, beyond Al Wihdat refugee camp. What’s more, the ad says: Seven minutes from 4th Circle with no traffic lights. Wow. The new highway that connects Jabal…
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Amman, the city with a Plan
It took almost two years of work by international and Jordanian experts. It is a document of almost 400 pages. And it was delivered by Mayor Omar Maani to HM King Abdullah II yesterday, May 12, 2008. It’s the Amman Plan. Yesterday has the potential to become a key date in Amman’s history. For the…
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Amman’s old downtown signs are gone! (but I managed to photograph a few)
Yesterday, Saturday, I decided to finally start my ‘project’ of documenting the old shop and office signs of downtown Amman. I parked my car at the top end of a staircase leading down from Jabal Amman to Basman street. I started taking some pictures, then my camera’s battery died. I bought a pack of batteries…
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Color on a wall: Amman’s biggest painting..
Have you seen this? I’m calling it Amman’s biggest painting (prove me wrong if you know a bigger one). The wall of the Radisson SAS hotel has been undergoing a transformation for the past few weeks. The work is by owl-obsessed artist Rima Malallah, who also happens to run the Love on a Bike shop…
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Amman: The Incomplete City and the missing trees of City Mall!
Wherever you look in Amman you see half done stuff. Everything is incomplete. City Mall is an investment of tens of millions of Dinars. Some pretty amazing shops inside. It is a successful, popular place. The photo above is from the pavement around the mall. I am sorry, but this makes me sick. Where the…
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Is that some real Graffiti on a Ammani wall?
[click to enlarge] This caught my eye! Graffiti on a wall near the exit from Wadi Saqra Street to the 3rd Circle. Amman’s graffiti has, so far, consisted of text only statements. Usual examples include: Expression of love and heartbreak (Min Ghadr il Bashar, 3ishigt issafar) Political Statements (Al Haqq Awalan) and the ubiquitous ad…
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New Rainbow Street and the dangers of the creeping “village style” !
The new lights of Rainbow Street are on! I just came back from a quick 30 minute visit to the street. I wanted to check out the street’s new developments and also document a creeping danger that is threatening the street’s urban identity. I will not elaborate on the interventions that were made as part…
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Jordan misses the train, literally! Can we learn something from Dubai?
One of the dominant news stories in the papers recently, was the contractual disqualification of the Pakistani-Chinese-Jordanian joint venture to build the railway line between Amman and Zarqa. We’re literally missing the train, again. This contractual fiasco now will delay the building of the railway between Jordan’s largest cities even further. The Amman-Zarqa highway (also…
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Have you seen Digital City’s amazing glass facade?
I haven’t been in Amman’s Shmeisani district for a while. Yesterday I passed through Commodore street and, from afar I saw the gleaming new glass facade of Digital City, a 17,000 square meters electronics mall that has been under construction for the past 2 years or so. The facade’s steel and glass construction looks impressive.…
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Would you buy a flat in Amman’s newest 300 million dollar tower?
Imagine swimming in the world’s highest suspended swimming pool. It’ll be at a height of 125 meters and will have a glass bottom. Just imagine this. In Amman! This is not a joke but what will be a reality in 3 years. Limitless, a well-know Dubai-based real estate development company (which is part of the…
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Finding modernist architecture, in Mugabalein!
Click to enlarge. Yes the mural is crazy. And yes the last floor looks added on. But I was just fascinated to find this example of international style modernism on a main street in Amman’s Mugabalein district! Apparently, this building belongs to the Ministry of Health (the sign says, “psychiatric health clinics”). It has a…