UAE-based SpaceContinuum Design Studio has collaborated with the Sharjah Art Foundation to turn a 1970s brutalist restaurant into an arts centre in Sharjah. We will only use your email address to send you the newsletters you have requested. El Mousfy, who also acts as an architectural consultant for SAF, hopes that the venue will become a hub that attracts people from Sharjah and across the United Arab Emirates and will continue its architectural legacy. Twitter Dezeen Weekly subscribers will also receive occasional updates about events, competitions and breaking news. Internally, a false ceiling and partitions were removed to create one large space topped by the 7.3-metre high dome that will be used for major installations. However, the collection has expandedover the years to become one of the premiere art collections in the region. Located in Sharjah’s historic Art and Heritage Areas, Sharjah Art Foundation activities and events take place throughout the year and include exhibitions featuring the work of Arab and international artists, performances, music, film screenings and artist talks as well as extensive art education programmes for children, adults and families. The Sharjah Art Foundation collection consists of more than 1000 works. "The core aim of the present restoration was to bring the Flying Saucer back to its original silhouette by removing its incongruous connected annex, reinstating its openness and perceptual lightness," she told Dezeen. You will shortly receive a welcome email so please check your inbox. The local landmark, which became a supermarket in the 1980s and then a chicken restaurant in the 2000s before being purchased by the SAF in 2012, has been stripped back to reveal its original unique silhouette. Sharjah Biennial is the UAE’s longest running contemporary art event. The Foundation hosts the annual March Meeting and every two years presents the Sharjah Biennial. Lofoten International Art Festival seeks curator for LIAF 2022 LIAF now seeks a curator or curators for LIAF 2022, with a project period extending from 1 April 2021 to 1 November 2022. UAE-based SpaceContinuum Design Studio has collaborated with the Sharjah Art Foundation to turn a 1970s brutalist restaurant into an arts centre in Sharjah. "In contrast with the Flying Saucer, the Launch Pad has a fluid spatial geometry that mirrors the new urban space dubbed the Platform; it fans around the Saucer’s faceted retaining walls and extends to the periphery of the site.". You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link at the bottom of every newsletter. "The new underground venue dubbed the Launch Pad – keeping with the space theme – was conceived to complement the Flying Saucer both spatially and programmatically," explained El Mousfy. Some other buildings like the Flying Saucer continue to represent a clear expression of the futuristic vision of the seventies, a period when modernity was beginning to be embraced in the city," she continued. The Flying Saucer restaurant is one of many buildings from the 1970s and '80s that are being restored by SAF and the Sharjah Architecture Triennial. The application deadline is 1 January 2021. Sign up for email updates and announcements, Sharjah Art Foundation Venues, Sites and Architecture. For more details, please see our privacy notice. Along with its preservation work in the emirate, El Mousfy also led SpaceContinuum Design Studio's creation of a pavilion to permanently house Random International's Rain Room installation. "In the period following the UAE's formation in 1971 many of the 70s and 80s buildings were public projects commissioned by the nascent state," explained El Mousfy. Sharjah desert visitor centre takes its shape from ... Sharjah Arts Foundation creates permanent home for the Rain ... Sharjah's 1970s and '80s architecture is being saved by the ... Marina Tabassum brings prefabricated Bangladeshi homes to ... Bedouin women create Irthi collection based on ancient ... Foster + Partners designs tech-filled library for Sharjah, Visit our comments page | Read our comments policy, Sharjah's brutalist Flying Saucer turned into arts centre, many buildings from the 1970s and '80s that are being restored by SAF and the Sharjah Architecture Triennial, a pavilion to permanently house Random International's Rain Room installation. To allow the Flying Saucer to stand alone, the majority of the art centre's other functions have been placed underground in a large space that SAF named the Launch Pad. This underground space, which is lit by three linear skylights along the edges of the site and a circular sunken courtyard, contains a cafe, library and several meeting rooms. Sharjah Art Foundation c/o Sharjah Art Museum PO Box 19989 Al Shuwaiheen Arts Area, Sharjah t +971 6 568 5050 f +971 6 568 5800 info@sharjahart.org "We reversed the transformations undertaken during the Flying Saucer’s occupation by Al Taza restaurant that led to the erasure of the building's Brutalist character," explained SpaceContinuum Design Studio founder Mona El Mousfy. "They aimed at prioritising civic development, hence their historical importance and the need to preserve them. SAF is also converting the 1970s Khor Fakkan cinema into a music school and a pyramidal-roof-topped kindergarten into a community centre. We will never give your details to anyone else without your consent. Sharjah Art Foundation exhibition and event spaces are located in the city of Sharjah’s heritage area and in a number of off-site venues across the emirate. "The repurposing of these buildings preserves them while highlighting their architectural and urban qualities and revealing their rich history with multiple references to the UAE's own history.". "The venue's iconic quality, expressing the optimism and forward-looking vision of the UAE genesis years, and its surprising adaptability and participation in the urban life and history of the surrounding neighbourhoods have contributed to its place in Sharjans' collective cultural memory and place identity," she said. Open calls, opportunities and resources for artists and art practitioners 1 November 2020. Originally opened in 1978 as a French restaurant and patisserie, the Flying Saucer has been renovated to become an exhibition venue for the Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF), which organises the emirate's art biennial and is a partner of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial. New Hassan Sharif monograph, published by Sharjah Art Foundation and Koenig Books, is now available in UAE bookstores and online 1 November 2020. A large proportion of these works are major installations that were produced specifically for the Sharjah Biennial. Dezeen Weekly is a curated newsletter that is sent every Thursday, containing highlights from Dezeen. An attached annexe was removed along with its grey and orange aluminium cladding to showcase the distinctive, 32-pointed concrete dome that is supported by triangulated, intersecting columns. Zero-water garden created in Sharjah to show how desert ... Shurooq's hotels demonstrate Sharjah's "very rich heritage". You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of every email, or by emailing us at privacy@dezeen.com. Download our Visitor's Guide, which is full of information and recommendations to help make your visit to Sharjah … Sharjah Art Foundation presents a range of activities and events throughout the year including film screenings, performances, music, artist talks as well as art … Since Sharjah Biennial 6 in 2003, the programme has been led by Sharjah Art Foundation President and Director Hoor Al Qasimi, a practicing artist who received a BFA from the Slade, London and an MA in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art, London. Located in Sharjah’s historic Art and Heritage Areas, Sharjah Art Foundation activities and events take place throughout the year and include exhibitions featuring the work of Arab and international artists, performances, music, film screenings and artist talks as well as extensive art education programmes for children, adults and families.