The Saraya is an Ottoman civic Building architecture located in the historic city core of Madaba. It was used as a police station with its architectural and symbolic potential unexploited. This project capitalizes on the high symbolic value of the Saraya building.

The building was renovated internally to be adaptively reused as a cultural centre. A number of improperly added structures were demolished to keep the integrity of the original building mass.

The external stone facades were renovated entirely by replacing damaged parts and cleaning others where indicated using state of the art non-destructive cleaning techniques. A new stone cladded steel structure gallery area extension was constructed within the west and south set backs of the building.

 A skylight was placed at the roof level of the gallery where it meets with the stone walls of the building. A new lift was added in the internal court at the rear side of the building and the stairs were extended to the roof level. An inclined glass roof shade structure was constructed over the court area.

The work was carried out in cooperation with the GHK of London as heritage experts. Our involvement comprised studies, design, tender documents and supervision. The owner was the Ministry of Tourism and Housing, the World Bank was financer and technical advisor.