Hunting for the Sharjah Flying Saucer’s history - can you help?

The Sharjah Flying Saucer building first became operational in 1978. Victor Besa for The National

In a case of unusual symmetry, it is not only the shape of the Flying Saucer’s dome that is pleasingly circular.

1980 to Today: Exhibitions in the United Arab Emirates is the building's first major exhibition since it was used as a temporary venue during last year's Sharjah Biennial.

“We still don’t know who the architect was and our research hasn’t found the date of its initiation but we have the date for when it was completed because we’ve found newspaper adverts,” says Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi, who remembers the ­building being used as a supermarket, a co-op and a fast-food joint. To find out more about the building, which opened as a restaurant patisserie, delicatessen, pharmacy and grocery store in December 1978, the Sharjah Art Foundation launched the Flying Saucer Memorabilia, a public research project in November.

If anybody has any old ­photographs, plans or written or recorded memories about the building, they can be forwarded to the project by email.

Submissions should include your full name, email details, address, phone number and a short ­biography.

All materials should be sent to [e-mail].