Sharjah Art Foundation Building, UAE Brutalist Architecture, Dubai 1970s Architectural Photos
Sharjah Flying Saucer Building Rehabilitation Award
14 June 2022
Design: SpaceContinuum Design Studio / Mona El Mousfy
Location: Sharjah, Dubai, UAE
The Sharjah Art Foundation acquired and commissioned the complete rehabilitation of the iconic Flying Saucer restaurant, originally built in the 1970s:
Photos by Danko Stjepanovic
Sharjah Flying Saucer Building Rehabilitation News
The core structure was revealed by removing the grey aluminum cladding on the saucer’s pillars and the orange aluminum cladding on its canopy:
The Flying Saucer is a 1978 Brutalist-style building that originally housed a café, restaurant, newsstand and gift shop; use of the building changed several times from 1988 onwards.
The dome rises up to seven metres and was kept in its existing condition – a rough exposed concrete finish:
It comprises a star-shaped canopy around a seven-metre dome over a circular arrangement of eight columns and V-shaped pillars.
The “Launch Pad” is a community space that fulfils cultural and social functions with multiple programmes and activities. It fans around the Saucer’s faceted retaining walls (here on the left). Along the library wall, long tables and chairs double as working and workshop spaces:
The building was fully restored as a community art space, and a later extension to the building was demolished.
The surrounding parking area was excavated for construction of a new underground community space to contain a public art library, a film-screening room, and workspace and social areas; the area above it and surrounding the building has been hardscaped as a public urban plaza.
Two access routes lead to the underground level from the Platform, a newly created public space that replaces the old parking. One of them is the enclosed stairwell placed at the rear of the site towards the gas station.
The open stairwell towards Sheikh Zayed Road leads to the underground level dubbed “The Launch Pad”.
The large “Green Crater” connects the upper floor to the underground, aka the “Launch Pad”, flooding it with natural light.
Light flows into the underground floor from the skylight above.
The multipurpose café around which film screenings, workshops, performances and readings can be held.
Sharjah Flying Saucer Building Rehabilitation, UAE – Building Information
Title: Flying Saucer Rehabilitation
Award Cycle: 2020-2022 Cycle
Status: Shortlisted
Location: Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Client: Sharjah Art Foundation
Architect: SpaceContinuum Design Studio / Mona El Mousfy
Completed: 2020
Country of origin: United Arab Emirates
Site plan:
Courtesy of architect
Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Danko Stjepanovic (photographer)
2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture Shortlist
Sharjah Flying Saucer Building Rehabilitation images / information received from the Aga Khan Award for Architecture – AKAA
Location: Sharjah, Dubai, UAE
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