The proposed site is strategically located at the arrival point to the city. Its edges are defined by the Desert Highway linking Aqaba to Amman, the Airport road connecting the site to the King Hussein International Airport and the railroad running along South-East edge of the site.
The geographic portrait of the site is framed by the mountains and the Bay of Aqaba with the Granite Mountains creating a backdrop on one side and with the Aqaba Bay providing stunning sunset views whilst defining the site’s major view corridor.

We live in a time where a balance between the new reality of our accelerated lives and innate human qualities of happiness, celebration, interaction and exchange forms the very crux of our existence. This art of balance is the main concept driver behind the design approach; which is expressed in the integration of all the elements of a transportation terminal within the elements of a plaza, thus making the terminal and the plaza each truthful to itself and yet in harmony with one another. The terminal incorporates the dynamism of movement and flow inherent to a transportation hub and the plaza provides a vibrant stage for the celebration of life in Aqaba. The design responds strongly to the need for a landmark at the city’s portal becoming a welcoming statement of arrival both from air and from land.

The design remains true to its context by borrowing from the sheer mass of the mountains and the expanse of the water body. The sculptural quality of the design straddles the site with a powerful surge of architectural energy that seems to manifest itself from the very earth of Aqaba. The mountain formations seem to constantly extend towards the edge of the water body, this phenomenon is captured in the shape of the terminal building which in turn commands uninterrupted views towards the sunset and waters of the Aqaba Bay.

The vision behind the Master plan for Aqaba calls for a vibrant urban setting which is reflected in the design concept where the terminal plaza is an urban magnet: uniting the city developments on one level and on another capturing in its essence the surrounding elements of nature; the mountains, the sea and all that lies between.