A unique new residential skyscraper in Dubai from RCR Arquitectes will be built to the width of just a single 22.5 meter (almost 74 feet) apartment unit in what could come as a shock to even the most ardent fans of contemporary luxury high-rise design.
The fifth collaboration between the 2017 Pritzker Prize winner and developer Muraba, the Muraba Veil, was announced this month for a site overlooking the canal in the city of 3.6 million.
Its design is shaped also by endemic cultural and climate conditions, reaching a total height of 1,247 feet and 73 stories. The apartments are being offered between two and five bedrooms. Some unique features include a cavern-like indoor spa and oasis located in the crawl space underneath its datum.
The building’s 'super-thin' appearance is meant to evoke traditional Arabian domestic architecture, revealing itself from behind a series of 'veils' comprising stainless steel mesh that helps to dematerialize its silhouette set against the skyline.
There will be 131 total units in the tower with prices starting around $4.9 million USD. Each unit takes up the entire width of its floor plates, bookended by outdoor terraces on either side that offer dual aspects and a further reimagining of the traditional Arab courtyard. A press release for the project called it a "stop-you-in-your tracks spectacle, even in Dubai’s supercharged architectural vista."
"The Veil is ultimately designed as a sanctuary for this place and this time, offering the opportunity to live a serene, private, perhaps meditative existence floating high above the city – a retreat from the instant, the material and virtual, conceived as an oasis for the mind as well as the body," it goes on to state.
The firm's founder, Rafael Aranda, added simply: "We are passionate about ensuring our buildings are responsive to the place, that they belong to the site and the native landscape where they are situated. They must communicate with nature and be infused with the atmosphere of the local culture."
Expect this new challenger to 111 West 57th Street and other similarly slim designs in the typology to be complete by December 2028.
3 Comments
Unfortunately this is an example of an amazing office that is not yet qualified to work at this scale.
I rather like the one-liner taken to an extreme. The tower will live and die on the success of that metal curtain facade. If it can really be engineered to be that ethereal and performative then the tower could be a visual success. But if it ends up getting VE-ed or panelized, then the core parti of the project will have been lost.
A complete lack of bigger perspective. Such projects focus on sophistry fueled by enormous amounts of money that apparently has no better purpose. Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.
The world doesn't need more $5 million homes in the sky. Spend it on vernacular climate sensitive homes for the Bedouins or on helping other parts of the Middle East that desperately need it.
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