The One&Only One Za'abeel resort in Dubai marked a new chapter for the legendary resort brand – and in the luxury resorts business – that could have been orchestrated only in the UAE.
In Dubai, there are fewer addresses more prestigious than One Za’abeel. Located at the edge of Zabeel Park, the Emirate’s original green lung and facing Dubai World Trade Centre – the famous 1979 skyscraper that set the tone for the city’s skyline that's now dotted with global icons such as the Burj Khalifa – the location is symbolic of Dubai’s pioneering spirit. And when the time came to build on the site, only an exceptional work of architecture would do.
Enter Japanese architects Nikken Sekkei, whose solution, a pair of asymmetrical towers connected via a cantilevered podium (that’s home to Dubai’s longest infinity pool and was built in eight separate pieces) was perfect for another transformative moment: One&Only One Za’abeel, the global hotel operator’s first urban resort that’s flipped the concept of low-lying, sprawled-out retreats on its head.
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“Dubai already has the tallest building, the twin towers, and a gate…how can we come up with a new symbol that is different?” asks lead architect Koko Nakamura. After much consideration, the team settled on a minimalistic approach that while standing out with its bold, monolithic form also pays tribute to Dubai as a destination for architectural excellence. “We would never be able to do this in Japan,” says Nikken Sekkei CEO, Fadi Jabri. “Not only is it a country of earthquakes, but on top of that, you are building a cantilevered structure on top of a highway, on a live road. Only in Dubai,” he laughs.
This futuristic boulevard, The Link, weighs 8,500 tons and floats 100 metres above the city while balancing the verticality of the two towers (akin to a “king and son”), creating a deconstructed gateway of sorts that will become a new icon for the emirate. The concrete and steel structure is engineered in such a way that there are no columns on the periphery; large-space glass façades promise panoramic views while simultaneously reflecting the cityscape on One&Only One Za’abeel itself – a seamless integration of a new landmark.
The glass-walled space inside has a diamond-patterned steel frame on all four sides, complete with a destination bar, celebrity-chef restaurants, a digital ‘Bridge of Love’ and private cabanas dotting the rooftop infinity pool. Moving outdoors, the building’s towering façade is softened with ‘fins’ featuring a dot pattern that creates a sense of depth (or ‘Oku’ in Japanese), depending on the angle from which it is viewed. This treatment serves a higher purpose: without cutting views, it tempers direct sunlight, reducing the building's overall heat gain. “It is one of the sustainable features of the building,” Jabri explains.
The cantilevered podium sports a rhythmic design with its balconies and bay windows that are uniformly draped in coloured aluminium louvres. The area behind the louvres feature a raft of functional elements such as ventilation slots: inspired by a Japanese architectural technique that uses depth to create a porous exterior, the building’s layered façade is unique to the region. “Japanese architecture is about layers,” says Jabri. “It is what defines the Japanese approach: at first glance, it appears quite simple, but when you start to notice the details, you realise all the elegance of its details and proportions.”
Complementing the elegant simplicity of the architecture, Belgian creative Jean Michele Gathy – the interior designer behind the One & Only resorts in Maldives and Montenegro, and the Aman properties in Venice and New York – looked to the city’s serene desert landscape to envision the decor here. Guests step into an entrance hall which takes aesthetic cues from a dune-scape, and up on the 25th floor, the lobby features a procession of chandeliers representing the star-studded sky above the desert. Coupled with a sense of vastness that was achieved by keeping the interior spaces as mostly open volumes, it opens up to the city beyond.
Elsewhere, the interiors marry local elements with geometric patterns, establishing a contemporary aesthetic peppered with vibrant touches (think electric blue accents and an eclectic art collection). “Luxury hotels are no longer just places to sleep, they are lifestyle venues,” says Gathy. “The word ‘flow’ is very important to the design: the flowing of the wind, the dunes, the sand. When we design, we try to balance softness, harshness, structure and symmetry. A good hotel is a place where there is a dance between all these elements.”
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