House of Wisdom in Sharjah Building, UAE Architecture, Dubai Architectural Images
House of Wisdom in Sharjah
12 Mar 2021
House of Wisdom in Sharjah welcomes its first visitors
Design: Foster + Partners
Location: Sharjah, Dubai, UAE

Photos by Chris Goldstraw
The House of Wisdom ? an iconic library and cultural centre in Sharjah ? has opened to the public. The central focus of the 2019 UNESCO World Book Capital celebrations, the project seeks to be the catalyst for a new cultural quarter in the city.

Gerard Evenden, Head of Studio, Foster + Partners said: ?The House of Wisdom in Sharjah is a forward-looking conception of what a library should be in the 21st century ? embracing a digital future while playing a crucial role as a community hub for learning, underpinned by innovation and technology.?
Located on the Sharjah International Airport Road, ten kilometres from the city centre, the two-storey building embodies a sense of clarity and lightness, with a large floating roof cantilevering on all sides of a transparent rectilinear volume.

The 15-metre-wide overhang shades the façades throughout most of the day, while fixed aluminium screens with differing densities filter the low sun in the evenings. Movable bamboo screens at low level are deployed by the building users, to provide privacy or to control glare. When not in use the bamboo screens are left open, preserving the visual connections with the landscaped gardens.

Visitors enter the building from its western edge ...