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A seven-team shortlist has been announced for a “Christian-centered but welcoming and inclusive to all” museum that will serve as the anchor project of a planned Baptism Development Zone along the Jordan River in Bethany, Jordan. The estimated $30 million project will serve as a “literal and figurative gateway” to Al-Maghtas, an archaeological UNESCO World Heritage Site on the east bank of the river officially known as Baptism Site “Bethany Beyond Jordan.” The area, long a Christian pilgrimage destination, is already one of Jordan’s most visited sites; the new museum would help to boost visitor numbers to the region, welcoming an anticipated 400–450,000 guests annually. It would open in 2030, coinciding with the bimillennial of Jesus’ baptism.

Organized by Malcolm Reading Consultants (MRC), the Jesus’ Baptism at Bethany, Jordan International Design Competition invites shortlisted teams to respond to a brief that, per MRC, “focuses on creating an exemplary story-led museum and garden in a sacred place surrounded by a preserved wilderness—a setting dedicated to the history and significance of baptism in the Christian faith.” The firms selected by the board of the client, the non-profit Foundation for the Development of the Lands Adjacent to the Baptism Site, to advance to the second stage of the competition include Muharraq, Bahrain and Amsterdam–based Studio Anne Holtrop; Mexico City’s Tatiana Bilbao Estudio; London-based Níall McLaughlin Architects; and AAU Anastas, a Palestinian practice with offices in Bethlehem and Paris. Rounding out the shortlist are Dublin-based Heneghan Peng Architects, whose collaborative revamp of the Storm King Art Center in New York’s Hudson Valley was recently featured in RECORD, and a pair of United States–based practices: Toshiko Mori Architect and Trahan Architects. A large source of funding for the future museum, which has a working construction budget of $30 million also comes from the U.S. via donors from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Photo © Malcolm Reading Consultants

Referring to the project as one of the “most significant cultural commissions in Jordan’s recent history” Dr. Tharwat Al Masalha, chair of the Jordan Foundation's board, said in a statement that “confirming the shortlist brings us closer to creating a museum at one of the most sacred and spiritually resonant sites in the region.”

The shortlisted teams’ design concepts will be shared with the public this fall, and the winner will be announced toward the end of the year. The winning design will be reviewed in coordination with UNESCO and in accordance with its Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessment. Listed below are the full finalist teams. 

AAU Anastas (Palestine/ France/Jordan) 
Landscape design: Florent Clier; exhibition design: dUCKS; engineering: Webb Yates; lighting Consultant: Studio Gelatic

Heneghan Peng Architects (Ireland) 
Landscape design: Agence Ter; exhibition design: Cookies; engineering: Arup; lighting consultant: Kardorff

Níall McLaughlin Architects (U.K.) 
Landscape design:  Kim Wilkie; exhibition design: Nissen Richards Studio; engineering: Arup; lighting consultant: Studio ZNA

 Studio Anne Holtrop (Bahrain/ Netherlands)
Landscape design: Atelier Miething; exhibition design: Imagination; engineering: Atkins Realis; lighting consultant: Rogier van der Heide

 Tatiana Bilbao Estudio (Mexico) 
Landscape design: Bureau Bas Smets; exhibition design:  Tatiana Bilbao Estudio; engineering: Sener; lighting consultant: cube.bz

 Toshiko Mori Architect (U.S.) 
Landscape design:  West 8; exhibition design: Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architect; engineering: Arup; lighting consultant: Arup

 Trahan Architects (U.S.) 
Landscape design: Doxiadis+; exhibition design: Ralph Appelbaum Associates; engineering: Buro Happold; lighting consultant: Tillotson Design Associates

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