{"id":474663,"date":"2026-02-12T08:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T08:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/474663\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T08:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T08:12:15","slug":"niall-mclaughlin-to-realize-jesus-baptism-at-bethany-jordan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/474663\/","title":{"rendered":"n\u00edall mclaughlin to realize jesus\u2019 baptism at bethany, jordan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>N\u00edall McLaughlin to design Museum of Jesus\u2019 Baptism in jordan<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/niall-mclaughlin-architects\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">N\u00edall McLaughlin Architects<\/a> wins the Malcolm Reading Consultants international competition to design the Museum of Jesus\u2019 Baptism at Bethany, Jordan, a project set within a luminous desert landscape adjacent to the UNESCO-listed Baptism Site. Scheduled to open in 2030 to mark the bimillennial of Christ\u2019s baptism, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/museums-galleries\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">museum<\/a> is conceived as an east\u2013west architectural journey.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The winning proposal by the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/architecture\/niall-mclaughlin-2026-riba-royal-gold-medal-architecture\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> 2026 Royal Gold Medal for architecture winner<\/a> was praised by the Foundation and Advisory Panel for \u2018its flair for multi-layered and immersive storytelling that focuses on communicating baptism\u2019s power to offer spiritual renewal and new life.\u2019 The project answers the brief\u2019s call for wonder and humility through a modest,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/rammed-earth\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> earth-bound<\/a> form that draws meaning from procession, material, and light.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The challenge of the design was to find a way to allow the architecture to mediate between a charged landscape and the sacred narratives that arose within it. It demanded a building that could work with allegory,\u2019 share the architects. \u2018At the same time, the project needed to use local labor, skills, and resources to achieve something with a sense of social responsibility and low carbon expenditure.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1177338 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"n\u00edall mclaughlin to realize low-carbon rammed earth museum at jordan's baptism landscape\" width=\"818\" height=\"818\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/niall-mclaughlin-low-carbon-rammed-earth-museum-jordan-baptism-landscape-designboom-04.jpg\"  data- loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>all images by N\u00edall McLaughlin Architects<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>building with allegory and landscape<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Visitors descend from an arid wilderness garden into the earth, crossing a water-filled rift before re-emerging into light and a cultivated paradise garden. Architecture becomes a mediator, framing a passage from dryness to fertility, from enclosure to revelation.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The eastern entrance and western exit face one another across a public square, marked by a triangle and a circle. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.niallmclaughlin.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">London-based architects<\/a> describe these as emphasizing a life in Christ as the Alpha and Omega. Between them, a stepped landscape rises onto the roof, imagined as an elevated archaeological terrain with mosaic floors set between low stone walls. From this accessible roofscape, visitors look out across the Jordan River valley and the pilgrimage route leading to the Baptism Site.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1177335 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"n\u00edall mclaughlin to realize low-carbon rammed earth museum at jordan's baptism landscape\" width=\"818\" height=\"460\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/niall-mclaughlin-low-carbon-rammed-earth-museum-jordan-baptism-landscape-designboom-01.jpg\"  data- loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>a project set within a luminous desert landscape adjacent to the UNESCO-listed Baptism Site<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>rammed earth and stone shape the structure<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Internally, permanent allegorical elements are interwoven with flexible gallery spaces. Deep walls contain displays, circulation, and services, shaping thickened thresholds rather than neutral white rooms. The structure of the museum is grounded in rammed earth and stone sourced locally, intended to be built with regional labor and skills. Low carbon expenditure and social responsibility are embedded into the design logic, not appended as afterthoughts.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We congratulate N\u00edall McLaughlin\u2019s team on their proposal, which excels in telling the story of baptism \u2013 highlighting its power to offer spiritual renewal and new life,\u2019 states Dr Tharwat Almasalha, Chair of the competition\u2019s Advisory Panel and Chair of the Foundation\u2019s Board. \u2018We look forward to celebrating the bimillennial of Christ\u2019s baptism in 2030 with the opening of the new museum, which promises to be an inspiration for Jordan, faith communities, and secular visitors worldwide.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1177341 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"n\u00edall mclaughlin to realize low-carbon rammed earth museum at jordan's baptism landscape\" width=\"818\" height=\"818\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/niall-mclaughlin-low-carbon-rammed-earth-museum-jordan-baptism-landscape-designboom-07.jpg\"  data- loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>scheduled to open in 2030<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1177336 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"n\u00edall mclaughlin to realize low-carbon rammed earth museum at jordan's baptism landscape\" width=\"818\" height=\"1210\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/niall-mclaughlin-low-carbon-rammed-earth-museum-jordan-baptism-landscape-designboom-02.jpg\"  data- loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>the project answers the brief\u2019s call for wonder and humility through a modest, earth-bound form<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1177340 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"n\u00edall mclaughlin to realize low-carbon rammed earth museum at jordan's baptism landscape\" width=\"818\" height=\"818\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/niall-mclaughlin-low-carbon-rammed-earth-museum-jordan-baptism-landscape-designboom-06.jpg\"  data- loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>visitors look out across the Jordan River valley and the pilgrimage route leading to the Baptism Site<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1177339 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"n\u00edall mclaughlin to realize low-carbon rammed earth museum at jordan's baptism landscape\" width=\"818\" height=\"818\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/niall-mclaughlin-low-carbon-rammed-earth-museum-jordan-baptism-landscape-designboom-05.jpg\"  data- loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>visitors descend from an arid wilderness garden into the earth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"N\u00edall McLaughlin to design Museum of Jesus\u2019 Baptism in jordan \u00a0 N\u00edall McLaughlin Architects wins the Malcolm Reading&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134,48842,148879,136664],"class_list":{"0":"post-474663","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-museums-and-galleries","16":"tag-niall-mclaughlin-architects","17":"tag-rammed-earth-architecture-and-design"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}