Sharjah’s Wasit Wetland Centre wins the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture

Gulf News

Read the full article here: https://bit.ly/2m917lN  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos  Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  The Centre transformed a wasteland into a wetland restoring the indigenous ecosystem.  #AgaKhanAward #Sharjah #WasitWetlandCentre

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00:00Wasit Wetland Center, Sharjah's pioneering environmental protection project, has won

00:09the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2019.

00:13Wasit Wetland Center in Sharjah is a design that transformed a wasteland into a wetland

00:18and functioned as a catalyst for biodiversity and environmental education.

00:24This area has a very big and interesting history as it was started as a waste area

00:30where all the dump and sewage waters come up.

00:34Because of these sewages, all the underground water came out with some food ready for the

00:40birds.

00:41The migrating birds just came here and nested, started to breed and they became like a big

00:48family here.

00:49The process of renovation for this area started in 2007 where all these trees, the damascus

00:57trees, surrounded the area to protect these birds inside.

01:00After that, in 2015, the center came out again with teaching methods for the children, for

01:07the families, for the school children, for the people outside, for everyone, to teach

01:11them on how the IPA processing the breeding and taking care of these migrating birds.

01:18And while its indigenous ecosystem has been restored, it has also proven to be a popular

01:23place for visitors to appreciate and learn about their natural environment.

01:28As a training center in a wetland area, we are the first in the Gulf region.

01:34We started this training center from the idea of His Highness Sheikh Sultan to transfer

01:40everything from inside to the public outside.

01:43We are playing like a role of connection.

01:45We need to connect the outside people to the biodiversity system inside.

01:50We need to educate people how to, if they saw them outside, how to take care of them,

01:55not to hurt them, not to hunt, try to hunt them.

01:59So this center is playing a vital role to just educate them.

02:05Wasit Wetland Center is part of a much larger project to clean up and rehabilitate an ancient

02:10chain of wetlands along the coast.

02:13The center aims to provide information and education about this unique environment and

02:17to encourage its preservation.

02:21You can find some mostly 60 kinds of migrating and endangered species that are really around

02:29the world.

02:30So we are taking care of them and to breed them.

02:32The architecture of the center uses the existing topography of the site to minimize the structure's

02:37visual impact.

02:39Wasit Wetland Center was one of the 20 projects shortlisted early this year for the award.

02:44Altogether, six projects from around the world have been declared winners to receive the

02:49award.

02:50The six winners of 2019 Aga Khan Award will share the US$1 million cash award.

02:55The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is one of the oldest major awards in the field of

02:59architecture.

03:00It selects projects from slum upgrading to high-rise green buildings that not only exhibit

03:05architectural excellence but also improve the overall quality of life.

03:09Irish Eden Belleza for Gulf News.

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