níall mclaughlin to realize jesus’ baptism at bethany, jordan

Níall McLaughlin to design Museum of Jesus’ Baptism in jordan

Níall McLaughlin Architects wins the Malcolm Reading Consultants international competition to design the Museum of Jesus’ 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’s baptism, the museum is conceived as an east–west architectural journey.

The winning proposal by the 2026 Royal Gold Medal for architecture winner was praised by the Foundation and Advisory Panel for ‘its flair for multi-layered and immersive storytelling that focuses on communicating baptism’s power to offer spiritual renewal and new life.’ The project answers the brief’s call for wonder and humility through a modest, earth-bound form that draws meaning from procession, material, and light.

‘The 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,’ share the architects. ‘At 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.’

all images by Níall McLaughlin Architects

building with allegory and landscape

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.

The eastern entrance and western exit face one another across a public square, marked by a triangle and a circle. The London-based architects 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.

a project set within a luminous desert landscape adjacent to the UNESCO-listed Baptism Site

rammed earth and stone shape the structure

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.

‘We congratulate Níall McLaughlin’s team on their proposal, which excels in telling the story of baptism – highlighting its power to offer spiritual renewal and new life,’ states Dr Tharwat Almasalha, Chair of the competition’s Advisory Panel and Chair of the Foundation’s Board. ‘We look forward to celebrating the bimillennial of Christ’s baptism in 2030 with the opening of the new museum, which promises to be an inspiration for Jordan, faith communities, and secular visitors worldwide.’

scheduled to open in 2030