Municipality of Greater Amman
Zahran Heritage Design Guidelines
Municipality of Greater Amman
Zahran Heritage Design Guidelines
DRAFT 1
August 2007

Municipality of Greater Amman
Zahran Heritage Design Guidelines
CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING SIGNIFICANCE OF LANDMARKS AND HITSORIC BUILDINGS:
1. Associated with events, lives or persons that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of
history.
2. Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, possesses high
artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity.
3. Exhibit an important interchange or example of human values, developments in architecture or
technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design which illustrates a significant stage in
city's history.
4. Be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement which is representative of an Amman
culture, especially when it has become under the impact of irreversible change.
5. Meet the test of authenticity in design, material, workmanship or setting and in the case of cultural
landscapes their distinctive character and components.
CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING SINIFICANCE OF CONSERVATION DISTRICTS:
1. Was developed at least 30 years ago and retain distinctive architectural and historical
characteristics.
2. Has a recognized neighborhood identity and character.
3. Has a relationship to urban or neighborhood centers or historic areas where preservation of that
relationship is critical to the protection of that historic area.
4. Owing to its unique location or singular physical characteristics represents an established and
familiar visual feature of the neighborhood, community, or city.
B.2 Principles & standards of Heritage Conservation

Municipality of Greater Amman
Zahran Heritage Design Guidelines
B.2 Principles & standards of Heritage Conservation
Standards for the Conservation of Historical Places:
• Conserve the heritage value of a historic place. Do not remove, replace, or substantially alter its intact or
repairable character-defining elements. Do not remove a part of a historic place if its current location is a
character-defining element.
• Conserve changes to a historic place, which over time have become character-defining elements in
their own right.
• Conserve heritage value by adopting an approach calling for minimal intervention.
• Recognize each historic place as a physical record of its time, place and use. Do not create a false
sense of development by adding elements from other historic places or other properties that never
coexisted.
• Find a use for a historic place that requires minimal or no change to its character-defining elements.
• Protect and, if necessary, stabilize a historic place until any subsequent intervention is undertaken.
• Evaluate the existing condition of character-defining elements to determine the appropriate intervention
needed. Use the gentlest means possible for any intervention.
• Maintain character-defining elements on an ongoing basis. Repair character-defining elements by
reinforcing their materials using recognized conservation methods.
• Make any intervention needed to preserve character-defining elements physically and visually
compatible with the historic place, and identifiable upon close inspection.

Municipality of Greater Amman
Zahran Heritage Design Guidelines
B.2 Principles & standards of Heritage Conservation
Cont.
• Where there is insufficient physical evidence, make the form, material and detailing of the new elements
compatible with the character of the historic place.
• Conserve the heritage value and character-defining elements when creating any new additions to a
historic place or any related new construction. Make the new work physically and visually compatible with,
subordinate to and distinguishable from the historic place.
• Create any new additions or related new construction so that the essential form and integrity of a historic
place will not be impaired if the new work is removed in the future.
• Repair rather than replace character-defining elements from the restoration period. Where character-
defining elements are too severely deteriorated to repair and where sufficient physical evidence exists,
replace them with new elements that match the forms, materials and detailing of sound versions of the
same elements.
• Replace missing features from the restoration period with new features whose forms, materials and
detailing are based on sufficient physical, documentary and/or oral evidence.

Municipality of Greater Amman
Zahran Heritage Design Guidelines
B.3 CONTEXTUALISM
Contextual design ( contextualism ), simply means design that is in character with its context. In
the case of Zahran, ‘context’ means the surroundings, neighboring buildings and the urban fabric
as identified in the early years of Amman.
Some of the buildings of the main area of Zahran until the seventies are generally built of uniform two to three
stories and presenting a unified face to the streetscape. These buildings are further visually characterized by
verandahs and display windows adjacent to the street frontage.
Individual buildings of Zahran Street’s historic areas cannot be
considered to exist by themselves. They all draw from and contribute to
the context in which they stand.
Each individual facade or building is part of the total streetscape
environment in which it stands and must be respected if it is to succeed
in giving unity to the ‘whole’.

Municipality of Greater Amman
Zahran Heritage Design Guidelines
B.3 CONTEXTUALISM
Infill and new buildings should respect the existing form, scale, and rhythm of the historic character.
This concept is of particular importance when a new or highly altered existing building is proposed adjacent to,
or close by, buildings of historic significance.
The key elements of architectural form such as scale, bulk, proportions, vertical and horizontal elements,
materials, verandahs, textures and colors must be respected if a building is to succeed ‘in context’.
Contextualism is more than simply duplicating existing forms from historic facades within the area. It is the
blending of carefully selected architectural form in a modern and innovative way to enhance the visual integrity
of the area. The selected elements of context should be regarded as a means rather than an end, with
innovation and design excellence to be encouraged.

Municipality of Greater Amman
Zahran Heritage Design Guidelines
D.2 TOOLBOX ELEMENTS1. STREETSCAPE / CONTEXT
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Municipality of Greater Amman
Zahran Heritage Design Guidelines
2. FACADES
The historic facades of the Zahran Street are characterized by similarity of scale, solidity and
proportions.
Most of these buildings are 2 or 3 stories and contain the classical elements of proportion including simple
forms (cylinder, cube and parts of cylinder), all well defined. The facades are characterized by the use of solid
materials, mostly local stone, with the windows usually vertically oriented, forming one, two or three-
dimensional holes in the wall.
Facades should be in keeping with their immediate surroundings in terms of height, scale, rhythm of
elements and window placements.
For new buildings adjacent to identified historic buildings or facades, the guideline can be further refined.
a) Building facades have solidity, depth and should be of a similar height to and use materials in context with
their historic neighbors.
b) Building facades should be divided into massing, well proportioned windows and architectural detail and a
top or skyline element, all well defined.
c) Long elevations should be divided into bays through the use of accentuated columns or other three-
dimensional effects
d) Verandahs, where used, should be of a similar height, depth and fascia height to their neighbors.
e) The below verandah facade should present a well-proportioned shop front to the street.
f) Plain & dull solid walls at street level within the identified zones should be avoided
D.2 TOOLBOX ELEMENTS

Municipality of Greater Amman
Zahran Heritage Design Guidelines
D.2 TOOLBOX ELEMENTSFACADES