Sharjah Post Office

Notes

"In 1978, a new main post office for Sharjah opened, prominently located on Government House Square. The roof was the most expressive element. Its wing-like, precast sections seemed at once to lift up from and enclose the rest the building. Glazing lining the eaves between the roof and brick walls allowed a cascade of soft daylight into the building's interiors. Today, the post office still stands, but its original design is barely discernible.
The building's initial gestures of a modernist architectural language were somehow realized despite Sharjah's major turn in the late 1970s toward excessive ornamentation, often inspired by Islamic architecture, for new government facilities. The post office survived in its original form until a massive renovation in the early 2000s, complete transformation of the building's outer elevations: its wings were clipped. The result was a massive, monochromatic recladding of the building in patterns and textures, a so-called Islamicization of the building's architecture. A new portico with decorative, structurally superfluous columns was also added to accentuate the new design's aspirations to a classical temperament" (Al Qassemi & Reisz, 2021).

Sources

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