Dubai

The troubled World Project in Dubai, which has been riddled with problems since the global financial crisis in 2009 including rumors that the islands are sinking, may have found salvation. Architectural firm Dutch Docklands has developed, designed and engineered a master plan for 89 floating islands, giving current World investors the opportunity to purchase a floating paradise. The solution would provide investors with an option that's more feasible and cost-effective than building on the existing land masses, whilst also incorporating several environmental benefits. Read More

The world’s tallest building opened yesterday, with a number of surprises including a new name. The 828-meter Burj Khalifa after UAE President Khalifa Bin Zayed, now holds a raft of world records including the world’s highest occupied floor (160th floor), the world's highest observation deck (124th floor), the world's highest mosque (158th floor), the world's highest swimming pool (76th floor), and the world’s tallest service lift. The tower is so tall it can be seen 95 km away, and breaks the previous record by 63% - quite some feat - check the CTBUH Top 100 Tallest Buildings database and the World’s tallest structures list for all the numbers. Read More

You would expect big things from a company founded by the only living person to hold world speed records over 200mph on land and water, and the Kepler Motors Motion certainly looks the goods. Russ Wicks' company has used the Dubai International Motor Show to unveil the 800hp supercar of which only 50 will be built. A 550hp, modified Ford EcoBoost twin-turbo 3.5L V6 drives the rear wheels independently of a 250hp electric motor driving the front wheels. Add them together and you get an AWD system which launches the Motion to 60mph under 2.5 seconds with a top speed more than 200mph. Impressive specifications and drooling good looks, we think it’s a nice combination. Read More

It's been a while since we've taken a look at the weird and wonderful canvas that is Dubai's skyline of the future, and this proposal from James Law Cybertecture would slot neatly in among radical designs like the Almeisan Tower and the spiraling ZPO. Shaped like a giant disco ball, the Technosphere is conceived as a self-sustaining model of the Earth in miniature incorporating a range of active and passive systems to meet these goals. Read More

Dubai conjures up BIG images; not just the tallest structures, although it currently holds that crown, but also big as in flamboyant, lavish and generally larger than life. Amidst the opulence, extravagance and seemingly limitless budgets – or perhaps because of the latter – Dubai is increasingly embracing its green side. The latest building designed for the city to cross our desk has a foot squarely in both camps - the Almeisan Tower combines a delicate, soaring structure with a 600kW solar tower and passive cooling systems claimed to be almost "triple zero", which means it has zero emissions, zero energy requirements and zero waste. Read More

From the land of opulence – Dubai - comes another amazing feat of architecture and engineering to add to the emirate’s extravagant skyline. The spiraling tubular design for the Za'abeel Park Observation (ZPO) Tower incorporates roof gardens, extensive solar paneling and geothermal cooling and ventilation in an organically inspired structure topped by three observation deck "petals". Read More

Dubai can lay claim to some of the world’s most outlandish buildings and many are also at the forefront of innovation in eco- and- environmentally friendly design. Joining their ranks is the 0-14 (‘oh-14’), a 22 storey, 300,000 square-foot commercial building perched on a two-storey podium in Dubai’s Business Bay. It's defining feature - a lace-like concrete exoskeleton peppered with more than 1,000 holes - provides both the building’s structure and its facade, delivering shade, light and air, plus stunning views of the Bay and skyline. Read More

The saying used to go, ‘only in America’, but in recent years it might be truer to say, ‘only in Dubai’, especially when it comes to architectural wonders. Buildings that would be unfeasible just about anywhere else seem to regularly spring from the ground in the oil rich emirate. The next eye-popping construction to grace the skyline could be a seawater vertical farm that uses seawater to cool and humidify greenhouses and to convert sufficient humidity back in to fresh water to irrigate the crops. Read More

The recently-launched luxury Atlantis hotel rises towards the sky from the man-made island of Palm Jumeirah, but unlike it’s mysterious namesake, this Atlantis is unlikely to get ‘lost’. The ocean-and-aquatic themed resort is impressive, and not surprisingly everything about it is big - from the development price of US$1.5 billion to its size (it's spread over 46 hectares of reclaimed land) and its 1, 539 rooms. It also features a massive 17 hectares of water park activities and an 11 million liter marine habitat that is home to more than 65,000 marine animals. Read More