Níall McLaughlin Architects wins the Museum of Jesus’ Baptism at Bethany, Jordan International Design Competition

The Foundation for the Development of the Lands Adjacent to the Baptism Site announced [10 February 2026] that the multi-disciplinary team led by Níall McLaughlin Architects (NMLA) has won the international competition for a new museum at Bethany, Jordan.

The announcement concludes the six-month invited competition to find an outstanding architect-led team to deliver a design for an exemplary new museum dedicated to the history and significance of baptism in the Christian tradition. The competition, run by Malcolm Reading Consultants, brought together a shortlist of seven international studios and an Advisory Panel of thought leaders in architecture, landscape, museums and heritage. 

Níall McLaughlin Architects’ winning concept impressed the Foundation and the Advisory Panel with its flair for multi-layered and immersive storytelling that focuses on communicating baptism’s power to offer spiritual renewal and new life. In scale and form, the proposal answered the brief’s call for a museum that ‘evokes wonder and humility in the visitor and responds sensitively to the site’.

The concept presents the new museum as an east-west journey anchored by an allegorical sequence – visitors will descend into the earth from an arid wilderness garden, then encounter a rift filled with water to symbolize the Jordan River, and re-emerge into the light and a fruitful paradise garden. Accordingly, the eastern entrance and western exit will face each other across a public square. Between them, an open stepped landscape will rise onto the roof where visitors can view the valley of the Jordan River and the pilgrimage route to the Baptism Site. 

NMLA paid close attention to Jordan’s vernacular architecture, using locally sourced stone and rammed earth techniques to create the museum’s form, which sits low within the landscape showing sensitivity to its surroundings and the adjacent UNESCO site. Their landscape strategy – led by Kim Wilkie Landscape – allows the wilderness to gently embrace the museum and fills walled gardens with scented native species. The exhibition design – developed by Nissen Richards Studio – uses variation in light, sound and material to create an absorbing immersive atmosphere that expresses the museum’s narrative arc of ‘wilderness, water and witness’. The team also includes local consultant, Engicon.

Dr Tharwat Almasalha, Chair of the competition’s Advisory Panel and Chair of the Foundation’s Board, said:

‘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. 

‘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. 

The Foundation will now work closely with NMLA to advance their design in coordination with UNESCO and in partnership with local communities and other stakeholders. 

Due to open in 2030 to mark the bimillennial of Christ’s baptism, the museum will be a globally significant spiritual and cultural landmark, deepening the experience of visiting the Baptism Site, located on the east bank of the Jordan River. The site (Al-Maghtas, “Bethany Beyond the Jordan”) is widely accepted as the place where John baptized Jesus and has been a Christian pilgrimage destination for centuries.

‘This proposal responds sensitively to the luminous setting in the wilderness and the adjacent UNESCO site. Though modest in size and form, the design has exceptional resonance: it will be attuned to human and divine connections. 

‘Together with the NMLA-led team we’re determined to create a museum that will be a global exemplar and acclaimed as a universal symbol of peace.’

For more information and details, please visit the website at the following link:

https://malcolmreading.com/news