

The Flying Saucer is a star-shaped landmark in Sharjah that opened in 1978 as a French-inspired patisserie and later housed supermarkets, a pharmacy, and a fast-food restaurant. Sharjah Art Foundation acquired the building in 2012, used it as an exhibition venue from 2015, and led a renovation begun in 2018 that restored its original silhouette and added new public areas; it reopened to the public on 26 September 2020 with exterior plazas and a lower-level community hub featuring a café around a sunken courtyard, a library, and multiple screening walls. Architecturally, it is defined by a circular dome that seems to hover above a ring of eight columns, a star-shaped canopy that projects beyond a panoramic façade, and bright interiors supported by V-shaped pillars. The restoration was undertaken with SpaceContinuum Design Studio led by Mona El Mousfy, and the project was shortlisted for the 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.