ETQAN Design Instute & Mechanical Training Center

ETQAN is an automotive design institute and mechanical training center in Amman, Jordan, positioned between Airport Street and the Wadi Al Sir mechanical area. Designed by Mahmoud Issam Awad and Mohammad Abdullah Nasser, the project aims to develop the minds and the practical skills of workers in the profession of car maintenance, serving as the keystone for building a new market for car design. It educates young people and helps turn their creations into real, working outcomes, acting as a center of creativity and excellence that searches for outstanding minds who can contribute to this field. With a place like this, the local auto industry has a starting point.

Siting a training center between an airport corridor and an established mechanical district gives the building a clear logic. It sits close to the workshops, suppliers, and tradespeople who define daily life in Amman, which means students learn within reach of the real economy they are preparing to join. Locating an educational facility next to the industry it serves shortens the distance between study and practice, a principle that has long shaped technical and vocational education around the world.

Designing for hands-on learning

A building of this type carries a specific set of demands. Spaces that combine teaching with hands-on mechanical work need generous floor area, durable surfaces, strong ventilation, and clear separation between noisy or fume-heavy tasks and quieter rooms for design and study. Wide doors, high ceilings, and direct vehicle access let cars move through the workshops, while flexible bays allow the layout to adapt as classes and projects change. Good daylight and honest, robust materials suit a place where students handle tools and machinery every day.

The ambition behind ETQAN reaches past training alone. By framing automotive work as a field of automotive design rather than repair only, the project encourages young people to treat the car as an object worth shaping, not just fixing. Architecture supports that shift by giving creative and technical work a shared home, where ideas can be drawn, built, and tested under one roof. For a country looking to grow its own industrial base, a center like this offers a place where talent can take form.