The curved concrete shell replaces conven­tional walls and ceilings – ever­y­thing melts into the sand like the dunes.

The distinct archi­tec­tural form of the Ayla Golf Academy & Club­house estab­lishes a unique connec­tion with nature by captu­ring the elemental, vibrant beauty of the rolling desert land­scape.

A massive concrete shell drapes over the program areas, enve­lo­ping the inte­rior and exte­rior walls of each volume. The curved shot­crete shell blends with the sand like dunes instead of having conven­tional walls and ceilings. Openings grant views towards the spec­ta­cular Aqaba Moun­tains in the back­ground.

Corten steel perfo­rated screen filters the light, similar to the tradi­tional Arabic ‘’Mashra­biya’. Jorda­nian patterns inspired the trian­gular pattern of openings while the tones of the surroun­ding moun­tains are echoed in the colors of the shot­crete and the metals.

A local artist helped design the buil­ding by applying a tradi­tional pigmen­ta­tion tech­nique to the inte­rior surfaces.

The cons­truc­tion of the project is the result of a know­ledge exch­ange program between the Euro­pean office of Oppen­heim Archi­tec­ture and local work­force.

Shot­crete pouring tech­ni­ques were taught to workers in the first phases so that they could take owner­ship of the cons­truc­tion and obtain specia­lized skills.