Sectional Duality: S.A.F Library

American University of Sharjah, College of Architecture, art and Design, Sharjah

Idea projektu

The idea of this project emerges from the tension between two conflicting urban conditions: the low-rise, inward-facing residential scale of the S.A.F. neighborhood and the vertical towers of the Sharjah Corniche. Rather than resolving this contrast, the art and documentation center embraces it, exploring duality as a generative architectural concept: duality in height, massing, materiality, and spatial character. The project investigates how a single building can simultaneously belong to two opposing contexts, moving between heavy and light, private and public, closed and open.

Popis projektu

The project consists of two intersecting volumes that merge to generate an inward-facing void at the center of the scheme. The lower volume mediates between the site and the building, housing quieter and more private programs, a study library and documentation center that is set below ground with controlled openings that limit and frame light deliberately. Above, a more tectonic volume gradually opens to light and views, accommodating public programs and roof access. The interplay between the two volumes creates a spatial journey from heavy, compressed, and introverted at the base to lighter, more open, and extroverted toward the top, reflecting the shift between private documentation and public engagement with art.

Technické informace

The building is constructed using a column and beam structural system, which allows for flexible interior spatial planning across both volumes while maintaining a clear structural logic. The lower volume is partially set below ground, with controlled and selective openings in its walls to regulate light entry into the library and documentation spaces. The upper volume is designed to progressively open through larger apertures and transparent elements that respond to views and natural light. The intersection of the two volumes is expressed through the central void, which acts as an organizational and experiential core of the scheme. Opacity differentiation between the two volumes reinforces the conceptual duality of light versus heavy.