New Urban Landscape
Al Majarrah Park in Sharjah now represents the culmination of a long process of transforming the waterfront and historic core from a purely commercial and infrastructural zone into a cultural and civic landscape. Its relaunch in 2026 marks a new stage in this shift. The park is conceived not simply as urban greening, but as a large‑scale artwork woven into the fabric of the city and realised in collaboration with artist collective SUPERFLEX and a team of landscape architects.
Historical Context of the Site
The Al Majarrah area originally grew as a waterfront trading district, centred around Souq Al Majarrah, which was later converted into the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization. When the former covered market reopened as a museum in 2008, it became a cultural anchor on the Al Majarrah waterfront and set the tone for the area’s subsequent cultural transformation. Parallel to this, the Heart of Sharjah initiative and wider corniche upgrades invested systematically in public spaces, parks, and cultural infrastructure along the creek.
From Park to Art Project
Against the backdrop of Sharjah Art Foundation’s expanding network of venues and the success of projects such as Rain Room in Al Majarrah, the idea emerged to turn the adjacent park into a fully fledged art landscape. The foundation invited SUPERFLEX, together with Schul Landscape Architects and KWY.studio, to develop a new masterplan that fuses traces of former courtyards, dune‑like topography, and active community participation. The concept rests on three core principles: the memory of the site (through the outlines of vanished buildings), the desert landscape as an emblem of the Emirate, and the activation of everyday objects as sculptural elements.
Design Language and SUPERFLEX’s Role
The project continues SUPERFLEX’s long‑standing interest in using public space as a field for artistic experimentation and social engagement. As in projects such as Superkilen in Copenhagen or One Two Three Swing! at Tate Modern, the collective explores how play, everyday objects, and urban design can reshape social dynamics. In Sharjah, they collaborate with Schul Landscape Architects and KWY.studio, creating a rare regional synthesis of art, landscape architecture, and urbanism that treats the park as cultural infrastructure rather than neutral greenery.
One of the key formal motifs is the plasticity of a desert landscape. Paths and walkways rise and fall gently, echoing the dunes outside the city and offering contrasting modes of movement, from contemplative strolling routes to more active zones. In several areas, the plan recreates the footprints of vanished residential blocks and courtyards, inscribing their outlines into paving, edges, and planting so that visitors can literally “walk” the city’s absent architecture.
Everyday Objects as Sculptures
A special role is given to everyday objects donated by residents, which are reworked and scaled up to become sculptural features and pieces of furniture in the park. This gesture foregrounds not only the artistic vision of the authors but also the contribution of the community, fostering a sense of ownership and participation among inhabitants. The park thus becomes a kind of open‑air collection of local stories, materialised in objects that function simultaneously as urban infrastructure and as a museum of the everyday.
Stages of Redevelopment
• Preparatory phase
Authorities and the foundation conducted an inventory of the existing park and its historical context, analysing earlier neighbourhoods, courtyards and pedestrian routes along the creek. On this basis, a curatorial brief was formulated: the park should operate as a permanent artistic installation, integrated into Sharjah Art Foundation’s spring programme and the long‑term strategy for Heart of Sharjah.
• Design phase
SUPERFLEX and their partners developed a masterplan featuring an undulating network of paths that recall desert dunes and a series of zones that trace the former domestic plots and open courts. In parallel, they designed a system for incorporating community‑donated everyday objects, reimagined as large‑scale sculptural elements and communal furniture.
• Reconstruction and implementation
The first stage focused on upgrading infrastructure: new surfaces, routes, planting schemes and irrigation, as well as rethinking connections to the corniche and surrounding cultural nodes. The second stage introduced the artistic and landscape components: the courtyard‑like pockets, the reshaped topography, and the installation of object‑based sculptures.
• Opening and integration into the cultural network
The official reopening of Al Majarrah Park has been announced as part of Sharjah Art Foundation’s spring 2026 programme, with the park functioning as a permanent installation. It is incorporated into the foundation’s visiting routes and expected to become a key stop for audiences attending the March Meeting and major exhibitions by artists such as Jorge Tacla and Ahaad Alamoudi.
Significance for Sharjah and the Region
The redevelopment of Al Majarrah Park signals Sharjah’s transition from a traditional model of “museum as separate building” to an expanded notion of the museum city, where the waterfront and the historic core themselves serve as exhibition space. Following the earlier conversion of Souq Al Majarrah into the Museum of Islamic Civilization, the adjacent park becomes an open‑air museum of everyday life and collective memory, created in co‑authorship with artists and residents.
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