That Field of Dreams line – ‘If you build it, they will come’ – might as well have been coined with Jordan’s Ayla Oasis in mind. Sprawling over 4.3 million sq m on the Red Sea’s Aqaba coastline, the first phase of the ambitious mixed-use development (which includes 17 km of new waterfront) is already complete. And for now, at least, its centrepiece is unquestionably Oppenheim Architects’ Ayla Golf Academy and Clubhouse.
Curving across the horizon like a granular sine wave, the dun-hued complex – created out of local stone, clay, glass and metal – was inspired by the backdrop of dune-scape and desert mountains, whilst Corten steel panels perforated to echo a mashrabiya screen keep desert heat and sun at bay.
The academy, itself, is a sequence of swooping concrete shells and sits in front of the driving range and the 18-hole Greg Norman-designed golf-course, looking for all the world like a slinky offspring of Zaha Hadid and Jørn Utzon.
Of course, if the heat gets too much, there are indoor swing and putting studios, though you’ll probably find us at the all-day bar and restaurant tucking into head chef Raed Abu Zeineh’s salmon steak, and risotto of tiger prawns.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
Al Farouq Street
Al Nakheel Area
Aqaba
-
‘Just beneath the surface there’s another world’: How David Lynch used hair and make-up to create his singular universeFrom Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive to Twin Peaks, David Lynch used hair and make-up in his films as a narrative device, writes Laura Havlin
-
Burns Night 2025: where to celebrate in LondonIt is time to raise a wee dram to Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns on Burns Night (25 January). Here is our pick of places to enjoy an evening of generous speechmaking, toasting, and drinking around London
-
Tag Heuer unveils sporty new collections at LVMH Watch Week 2025Tag Heuer has announced a series of new watches at LVMH Watch Week, including Formula 1 and Carrera editions
