On the site of an existing public garden in the neighborhood of Um Uthaina, west of the Jordanian capital Amman, sits the Commercial Office of the Republic of China-Taiwan. The 3000m² plot houses a visa center with a total area of 1600 m², and an ambassador residence with a total area of 900 m². Since the building is an embassy, it is vital for it to represent the marriage between the Taiwanese and the Jordanian cultures; a dual exchange where one is the host and the other a guest. An embassy functions as a symbolic representation of two countries’ relationship with one another, and not just a mere work of architecture. As such, the building creates a space that is welcoming, secure and respectful of local traditions; Chinese presence on Jordanian Soil. The design sets to integrate the notions of purpose, function flexibility, art, safety, security, and sustainability in a structure that represents one country on foreign land. With the site being a public garden, it offers a suitable and symbolic location to house the Taiwanese Embassy and residence.
The site’s natural setting and green gardens enhance the fusion of the two cultures, the fusion of the building with its site and the fusion of Taiwan as a symbol within Jordan’s setting and within the capital’s urban fabric. The spatial and programmatic organization of the project is interpreted as such that a sense of openness is added to the traditional privacy of an embassy structure. Employees, embassy visitors and the ambassador’s guests experience a calm ambiance with a functional arrangement that exudes precision in detail and movement. This design approach creates a soulful space at the heart of the evolving capital, a new type of embassy building that seamlessly merges with its foreign context, physically understated and functionally secluded for its required privacy. The embassy is a result of two cultures fused; embracing the similarities and celebrating the differences of the two countries all at once.
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