For those of us who are attracted to luxury accommodations that are a destination in and of itself, look no further than the underwater hotel being built in Dubai.
Designed by Polish company Deep Ocean Technology (DOT) with the help of Swiss firm BIG InvestConsult AG, the Water Discus hotel comprises of two discs—one permanently above water and the other submerged to a depth of 33 feet—giving a whole new meaning to the phrase “a room with a view.” We can’t say for sure how our aquatic neighbors will react to the new faces, but hotel guests will have access to the utmost privacy thanks to completely sound-proof rooms and curtains with adjustable levels of transparency.
No stranger to pushing the envelope in terms of construction—they already house the biggest mall and the tallest building in the world—Dubai is a city that embraces architecture with no bounds. By designing the hotel to be half submerged and half above sea level, guests will be able to admire the depths of the ocean while still basking in all the traditional amenities that a warm climate affords. The underwater disc will comprise of 21 double rooms adjacent to a dive center and a bar with each room designed to ‘integrate with the underwater world as closely as possible,’ reports The Independent. The two discs will be connected by five legs and a vertical shaft originating from the center staircase and lift.
Even more impressive is the concept behind the surface discs. Made to be buoyant and detachable from the main structure, these discs act as lifeboats should any natural disaster strike, meaning that the Water Discus can be transferred to a different place in case of environmental or economic concerns. This has huge implications for not only the luxury hotel market but other sectors as well. As Bogdan Gutkowski, President of BIG, recently told World Architecture News, “Water Discus Hotel project opens many new fields of development for the hotel and tourism sector, housing and city sector in the coastal off-shore areas, as well as new opportunities for ecology support by creation of new underwater world protection.”This is not the world’s first attempt of underwater hotel construction—the Maldives Rangali Islands resort has one underwater suite and there’s also Jules Undersea Lodge, which is the only underwater hotel in the US—but it is by far the most ambitious sub-marine undertaking to date.
