Noor Island Park, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, project: 3deluxe
Project: 3deluxe; Interior Architects: 3deluxe; Contracting authority: Shurooq, Sharjah, U.A.E; Roof construction: Seele Middle East; Pavilion construction: Waagner Biro Gulf; Interior works: Candido Hermida; Interior Material: Krion; Planting: Greenworks; Client: Andre Heller. Photographs: Björn Asmussen, Christian Bauer, Candido Hermida
Noor Island Park – a fallow island off the coast of desert metropolis Sharjah, transformed into a transmedia landscape park as a new type of urban space. The Butterfly Pavilion with its golden gleaming sunshade roof that is discernible from afar is the architectural centre piece.
The impressive, organically shaped steel structure of the butterfly house is covered in thousands of starshaped metal blossoms, which paint ornamental patterns on the inside glass pavilion as the sunlight shines through them. 3deluxe created a biotope set to 26°C with slightly increased humidity at the center of a 230-square meter crystalline glass corpus the height of which increases from three and a half to around five and a half meters.
In addition to a tropical rainforest habitat that is home to some 500 exotic butterflies, the building with the expressive design accommodates a souvenir shop and a café with an atmospheric ambiance.
What is natural becomes artificial, what is man-made imitates nature.
A landscape made of Krion, a thermoformed solid surface merges the horizontal with the vertical, tubs of plants with seats.
Like a walk-in flower the Literature Pavilion on Noor Island opens up to the surroundings and its visitors. The Literature Pavilion, an open structure for about 40 visitors with no climatic sheath, is reminiscent of a stylized Bedouin tent where people sit on the floor - cushions and blankets were covered in a fabric specially woven in Germany.
It also boasts a real bookshelf and a projection screen for moving pictures plus a contemplative section, an open book in/about nature.
A white bridge links the landscape park on Noor Island with the mainland.
This 100-meter long fiberglass bridge, seamless, as is its aluminium balustrade is not simply a piece of engineering connecting two locations at the shortest point between them, but rather a transitional zone that encapsulates the idea behind the island itself – contemplation.
