Art Zone

The Art Zone is an 1800 m² indoor interactive park for kids and families, is located in the Al Majaz park facing the Khor Khalid Lagoon, near the centre of Sharjah, UAE. Through a variety of attractions, children experiment with color, sound, reflection, composition and patterns in a playful and active way. The interior landscape and objects are enclosed by a double layered translucent membrane structure, which filters light to create a soft, diffused atmosphere with lively shadows dancing across the floor. The building creates a hybrid interior –exterior condition which is more open than a traditionally enclosed building, yet more protected than a garden, allowing for expanded usage within the park.

The membrane structure is supported by three slender columns opening into bulbous headrings that stretch the roof to enclose a continuous play spaces. The inner membrane allows 4% light transmittance, minimizing the need for artificial lighting, while an outer membrane of triangular shading sails supported by a steel net minimizes solar heat gain. The triangles are fixed in the corners to the net with a flexible profile that maintains tension across the surface and creates various opening sizes optimized to mediate direct solar heat gain over the course of the year. The opening pattern is designed to channel the wind along the inner membrane to provide natural cooling, with support from a  mechanical cooling system to maintain a temperature differential to create a stack effect.