Archinect - News

Researchers claim to have uncovered world’s oldest architectural plans

2023-05-19T15:30:00-04:00

Engraved between 7,000 and 9,000 years ago, these representations are by far the oldest known to-scale architectural plans recorded in human history, the team reported on Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE. They also highlight how carefully planned the desert kites may have been by the ancient peoples who relied on them.

The “desert kites” in question are essentially large-scale slaughter pen-type catchalls used to herd and kill wild animal herds in the prehistoric regions known today as the Levant and Central Asia. Researchers will soon display the plans, which are engraved in stone slabs, in a special exhibition at Jordan’s Al-Hussein Bin Talal University. The paper can be found here.

Co-author Wael Abu-Azizeh told the New York Times the engravings “could also be symbolic commemorations of the desert kites, which may have been an important part of the cultural identity of the ancient peoples who made and used them.”

Winner of 2013 Mock Firms International Skyscraper Competition

2013-05-06T16:54:00-04:00

Winners have been announced recently at the fifth annual Mock Firms International Skyscraper Competition, organized by Chicago Architecture Today. [...] The top title of International Skyscraper and Mock Firm Champion (a combination of architectural and marketing efforts) was awarded to the team AZAHAR Architecture composed of five architecture students and one professor from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain.

Foster + Partners completes Bedouin tent-inspired Jordan Airport

2013-03-27T13:32:00-04:00

Foster + Partners recently added another international airport to its portfolio, the just-opened Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, Jordan. According to a press release, the flight hub boasts a “highly effective passive design, which has been inspired by local traditions,” namely a canopy of shallow concrete domes that mitigate Amman’s hot climate and mimic forms in Islamic art.

$1.5 Billion Star Trek Theme Park Announced for Jordan

2011-08-12T16:47:56-04:00

King Abdullah of Jordan, who was once an extra in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, has given the green light to a $1.5 billion Star Trek-inspired theme park that will boldly take Jordan where no Gulf state has gone before. While the theme park will not be powered by dilithium crystals, it will utilize green technology in order to lower its carbon footprint.

UPDATE: Hanin Fakhriddin, IP & Brand Protection Manager at Rubicon Group, one of the creators behind the theme park, just contacted us from Amman, Jordan and pointed out that "the Theme Park is not a Star Trek Theme Park, nor a theme park revolving around Star Trek. It will be dedicated to our region’s history and culture. A section of the park will be dedicated to the future, and this is where the Star Trek attraction will be."