daydreamers design traces the evolution of the arch with its spiral pavilion in sharjah

built for the islamic arts festival 2016 held in sharjah, UAE, ‘spiral arches’ is a temporary pavilion situated at the al majaz waterfront. the installation, conceived by daydreamers design, seeks to create a journey drawn from the historical role of the ‘arch’ — tracing its evolution in islamic architecture from antiquity to modernity. the pavilion is made up of 100 layers of arches that form an 88 meter-long arcade. an abstract form of fountain artwork is placed at the center of the installation, symbolizing the origin of the journey and the architectural layout of the design. 

‘spiral arches’ / video courtesy of daydreamers design

daydreamers design has focused on the ‘arch’ as an architectural element. this essential feature of early civilizations includes a range of variations — such as the horseshoe, multi-foil, pointed and ogee arches. the studio spotlights this structural and decorative feature by beginning the pavilion arcade with the modern parabolic arch, and leading back to the ancient horseshoe arch.

‘to consolidate the long history of islamic arch, we have summarized the typologies into ten main groups and array in historical order: the horseshoes arch, the round arch, the segmental arch, the tudor arch, the pointed arch, the shouldered arch, the tri-foil arch, the multi-foil arch, the ogee arch, and the parabolic arch,’ explains the design team.

the entrance and exit of the pavilion faces towards mecca in homage to islamic context and culture, while responding to the theme of ‘bunyan’ for the 19th islamic arts festival. by night, the pavilion is illuminated with LED strips on every layer of the arch, offering a completely different perspective and experience for visitors and passersby.

project info:

design name: 
spiral arches
design team: daydreamers design — 
siu kwok kin stanley, chan pui hong aden and chung chui shan tidus

primary function:
 pavilion
location: al majaz waterfont, sharjah UAE

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