🇦🇪United Arab Emirates·Open to the public

Butterfly Pavilion, Noor Island

Noor Island, Sharjah

Sources checked September 2026

“Four thousand gilded aluminum petals form the cocoon beneath which five hundred tropical butterflies flutter, facing Sharjah's waterfront.”

Year: 2015
Architect: 3deluxe
Style: Organic cocoon-shaped pavilion with a steel structure and aluminum petals
Dimensions: 820 m² beneath a roof made of roughly 4,000 anodized aluminum petals
Status: Open to the public

Set on Noor Island, an artificial islet linked to Sharjah's waterfront, the Butterfly Pavilion was designed in 2015 by the German firm 3deluxe as an organic 820 m² cocoon, carried on nine tree-shaped steel columns. Its roof, made of three interlocking segments covered with about 4,000 anodized aluminum scales resembling gilded petals, filters the Gulf light to create a shifting tropical half-light inside. Beneath this shell live nearly 500 exotic butterflies, in a humid atmosphere conceived as an airlock between the mineral city and the surrounding nature.

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In depth ≈ 2 min read

History

The Butterfly House is one of the pavilions of Al Noor Island, a 45,470 m² islet landscaped in Khalid Lagoon in the heart of Sharjah. The project was developed by the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq) at a cost of around AED 80 million, based on design concepts by the Austrian artist André Heller. The island was inaugurated in December 2015 by the Ruler of Sharjah, Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi.

From the outset, the Butterfly House ranked among the island's principal features, alongside the Literature Pavilion and a series of art installations. It also housed an exhibition of remarkable butterflies donated by the Ruler. By its tenth anniversary, celebrated in February 2026, the island reported more than a million visitors, over 500 events and educational programmes, and eight international awards.

Architecture and engineering

The pavilion is a climate-controlled glasshouse with flowing glazed walls, partly covered with plants. It is crowned by a shade roof perforated with an ornamental pattern inspired by the mashrabiya screens of Arab windows, which filters the daylight. The building also contains the Noor Cafe, with indoor and outdoor seating, and a gift shop.

Plant collections

The flight hall holds 500 to 600 exotic butterflies, largely from East and Southeast Asia. At opening, species included the African monarch (Danaus chrysippus), the autumn leaf (Doleschallia bisaltide) and the common rose swallowtail (Pachliopta aristolochiae). By 2026 the island listed more than twenty species from around the world, among them the blue morpho (Morpho peleides), the giant owl, the great eggfly and the malachite (Siproeta stelenes). Keepers maintain the tropical conditions the insects need and explain the butterfly life cycle to visitors in a child-friendly way.

Visiting

Al Noor Island is reached by a pedestrian bridge behind Al Noor Mosque, or by boat from other points on the Sharjah waterfront. Because the butterflies are inactive at night, the Butterfly House is best seen by day, while the island comes into its own after dark with its lighting and illuminated installations. A full circuit combines the glasshouse, the cafe, the Literature Pavilion, the OVO light sculpture and the island's boardwalk of about 3.5 kilometres.

View on the interactive globe

25.36° N, 55.38° E