Noor Island Park: A Transmedia Landscape Masterpiece

3deluxe architecture's Golden A' Design Award-Winning Project

3deluxe architecture's Noor Island Park is a lagoon island in the metropolis of Sharjah, converted into a transmedia landscape park. This new type of urban space is a platform where residents and visitors can engage with the city on intellectual, emotional, and physical levels. The park's architectural centerpiece is the Butterfly Pavilion, a structure with a golden sunshade roof discernible from afar. The pavilion's organically shaped steel structure is covered in thousands of star-shaped metal blossoms, painting ornamental patterns on the inside glass pavilion as sunlight shines through them.

The inspiration for the pavilion's biomorphic outer shell came from an exploration of parametric design strategies in dialogue with traditional Arabian ornamentation. The highly complex freeform roof is composed of a load-bearing 3D frame with over 4,000 golden aluminium leaves of varying sizes. The design team at 3deluxe architecture transcended the boundaries between different disciplines, orchestrating a multisensory experience based on a walk-in, tactile sculpture. Here, architecture, design, flora, sound, and graphics overlap, creating a design complexity that fully involves viewers, making them part of the overall experience.

The realization of this design involved various innovative technologies. The entire roof structure was prefabricated and then simply assembled on site. The individual roof elements are fastened by means of intelligent node connectors that can combine all the different connection angles of the interrelated roof elements in a single connector. The floor is covered in liquid glass with an ornamental print, and the furniture/fixtures are custom-made free-shaped furniture of white mineral material or MDF varnished white.

The design team faced several creative, technical, and research challenges during the realization of this project. They took inspiration from the chimney effect created by the tapered structure, creating a climatic buffer zone between inside and outside. The intricate casing protects the butterfly biotope, creating shade without excluding daylight. The café and the glass insect house are flooded with light, and the shadows of flowers make their way across the floor and walls. Images of the ornamental roof blend with the floral patterns of the plants that appear to be growing out of the floor in the tropical house.

Noor Island Park is a testament to the innovative design and architectural prowess of 3deluxe architecture. This project has been recognized with the prestigious Golden A' Design Award in 2017, a testament to its outstanding design and significant impact on the world of architecture. The transformation of a forgotten island into a poetic landscape, where nature and architecture, light and water, the hypermodern and the traditional come together in a walk-through installation, is indeed a marvel to behold.