UNDERWATER HOTEL IN DUBAI

While this underwater hotel in Dubai is still a long ways off from taking reservations, the concept art alone has been enough to create quite a buzz throughout the blogosphere. This is not too surprising as underwater projects never fail to fascinate the public; there’s something about the idea of living under the sea that is endlessly enchanting. We’ve already put together a list of amazing underwater restaurants, but we’ve yet to see an underwater hotel.  Although we’ve heard about many extravagant projects planned for Dubai that never come through, we’d love to see something like this come to fruition some day.

The Water Discus Hotel, named after the shape of both its underwater and above-water structures, was designed by Poland’s Deep Ocean Technology, who also specialize in underwater vehicles and deep-sea exploration equipment. Construction of the hotel will be completed by Dubai-based Drydocks World, while financing will come from Switzerland’s BIG InvestConsult. The Water Discus Hotel isn’t the only underwater hotel in the works, but it might be the first to actually be built. Another underwater hotel called Hydropolis was planned for Dubai back in 2006, yet the $300 million project never broke ground. Over in Fiji, the Poseidon Underwater Resort is under construction, but it keeps running into delays and the completion date is unknown. Hopefully everyone behind the Water Discus Hotel has learned from the problems encountered by these previous projects and apply those lessons to this latest attempt at an underwater hotel.

As you can see in the concept drawings, the hotel looks like something out of the Jetsons. Above the water, a disc shaped structure will be home to a swimming pool, spa, and garden. However, all 21 rooms will be in another disc 10 meters below the surface. As you would imagine, the rooms will feature incredible views of the ocean through an entire wall of windows. While architect Pawel Podwojewski tried as hard as possible to keep construction costs down, potential guests will be glad to know that he didn’t skimp on the acrylic windows, which are the most expensive element in the project. He was able to keep costs relatively low by adhering to a simple design and not affixing the disc to the ocean floor.

The underwater disc will actually be able to move up and down a central pillar, which will come in handy for a couple of reasons. The first is safety. In the case of an emergency, the disc can be brought up to the surface in 15 minutes where it will be much easier to evacuate guests. The speed at which the disc moves up-and-down is adjustable, so if it needs to be brought up for repairs, it will move at a much more leisurely rate, taking as long as 12 hours to breach the surface.

Well, those are the few details we have so far. Whether or not this is just another Dubai pipe dream, we can’t say for sure. However, we get the feeling that it won’t be too long before we start to see the hotel industry head beneath sea.

Posted in: Hotels