The Arabian Tower: Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Fid-Bau Portal

The Arabian Tower: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Halford, Martin / Walters, Paul

The Arabian Tower is a 321m high, 7 Star hotel located on the shore of the Arabian Gulf, 15km south of the city of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. It forms the centrepiece of the world class Chicago Beach Resort Development, which also includes the 5 Star, 600 bedroom, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, and the themed, 15 acre Wild Wadi aquapark. The Tower is, both internally and externally, an extraordinary building. The structural framing includes dramatic, bold forms, which are both part of the architecture and demonstrate structural design of a high standard. This synergy of innovative yet efficient structural design with dramatic architecture, has produced a striking building that is currently the tallest hotel in the world. Internally, the 202 super luxury suites, each with a minimum floor area of 169m², are arranged in a V formation, either side of a 180m high atrium, one of the world's largest. The Arabian Tower is designed to reflect the seafaring heritage of Dubai, resembling the billowing sail of a traditional Arabic Dhow. This has been achieved both by utilising the profile of the building and by integrating the architecture and the structure so that each complements and takes advantage of the other. The rigging of the sail is expressed as a clad framework, external to the building façade. This exoskeleton, however, is not merely decorative, it forms an integral part of the horizontal stability system of the structure. The desire to give the front elevation of the building the appearance of a sail led to the innovative use of a structural Teflon coated fibreglass fabric as a tensioned membrane façade. The siting of the Tower on a man made island 300m offshore not only reinforced the sail concept but also had the practical benefits of freeing up more space on shore for the other parts of the development and of reducing the impact of the Tower's shadow on the Resort's beach. WS Atkins & Partners Overseas were appointed by the Client to provide a complete multi-disciplinary design service, including architecture, civil, structural and building services engineering, interior design and landscape architecture. WSAPO were also awarded the commission for the Construction Management of the entire development.