The newest iconic landmark of Dubai, Atlantis The Royal welcomes guests to an experience that will completely redefine their perspective of luxury. Crafted by the world’s leading designers, architects, and artists, this is a destination where everything has been designed to challenge the boundaries of imagination.
Surging 43 storeys high and spanning 406,000 square meters, Atlantis The Royal is a show-stopping project that aims to reimagine and challenge the confines of modern resort architecture. Transforming the bespoke resort luxury vertically into a 500-metre-long, 178-metre-tall, mega structure, this architecturally unique icon is defined by a never-before-seen sky garden concept. The resort is positioned on the outer crescent of The Palm Island– a location which allows the building to have two different types of waterfront views: towards either the Arabian Gulf or the sheltered lagoon of the Palm Island and the Dubai skyline.
Atlantis The Royal was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF), one of the world’s preeminent architecture firms. Renowned for excellence and cutting-edge innovation, KPF is the creative design firm behind some of the most iconic and recognisable destinations and buildings in the world, including New York’s Hudson Yards, the largest private development in US history; London’s Covent Garden neighbourhood, one of the city’s most central and buzziest districts; and 6 of the 12 tallest towers in the world, including the Shanghai World Financial Center, the Ping An Finance Center in Shenzhen, China, and Lotte World Tower in Seoul, South Korea. KPF has also designed world renowned hotels such as Hong Kong’s Mandarin Oriental, Rosewood Hong Kong at Victoria Dockside, and Rosewood Bangkok. The design of Atlantis The Royal reflects the classic form of Atlantis’ nearby property Atlantis The Palm, while bringing it forward with a futuristic form that showcases the progressive, modern architecture of the Dubai skyline. As a re-imagining of traditional sculptural towers, it takes the form of a stack of individual blocks, each offering a bespoke private experience from a private core per stack. The six striking towers are adjoined by a 90 x 33 metre sky bridge, which, along with the dramatically illuminated openings between each block, creates a clearly identifiable pattern on the night skyline. KPF has designed a simple yet stunning visual identity that evokes the monumental arches and arcades of Roman aqueducts through which the sun and sky are framed as part of the architecture itself.
The interior of the new iconic resort was designed by G.A Group, one of the world’s pre-eminent luxury hotel and residential interior design firms responsible for projects such as W Shanghai, Corinthia London, W Taipei, Palace Hotel Tokyo and the upcoming 1Hotel Mayfair. The original design brief conceptualised by G.A Group was inspired by the oldest inhabitants of the Arabian desert, the Bedouins; known for their resourcefulness and hospitality, the tribes would traverse thousands of miles across the sand dunes using water wells, which were the lifeblood of the desert, to navigate. The precious commodity of water is constantly celebrated throughout the property, with water features, sculptures and colour palettes peppered throughout to guide guests on their discovery of the resort. Examples of this can be found in the dramatic 11.5 metres tall lobby sculpture, Droplets, which represents the first drop of rain in a dry desert, to the Deluge water elevators, which invites guests to quite literally walk-through water to reach the next part of the resort. Cloud burst light fixtures feature at each elevator bank and hundreds of raindrop shaped light pendants delicately stud the lobby ceilings.
The architecture, water views and internet design were all inspiration for the design of WET, the world’s leading water feature design firm, responsible for world-famous attractions including the Fountains of Bellagio and the record-breaking HSBC Rain Vortex at Jewel Changi Airport. The connection with water is made through a series of water features along the resort’s main axis that guides visitors from their entry, as they pass through the Firefalls feature to experience the climatic finale of Skyblaze. The fountains highlight the power of water’s presence and its effect on us, whether creating quiet, contemplative moments or wowing us with the spectacular. Collectively, the combination of water and fire when in so many features is something never done before in the world. The water features include: Firefalls, two highly reflective walls of glass clad in rippling water and embracing programmable plumes of fire; Deluge, two three-storey cylindrical glass elevators immersed in cascades of water; and Skyblaze, a 28-metre high fire and water fountain, composed of myriad water forms, fire bursts, lights, and performative music.
Alongside cutting-edge innovation inside the resort, landscaping design company SKS Studio and 40NORTH worked together to create moments through the property where the resort landscape (typically found on the ground of a hotel) are transported vertically into the tower. Taking the form of Sky Pool Villas and Sky Terraces, these spaces are shaded from the floors above and ventilated by the oceanic winds and pools, creating passively cooled spaces that aim to extend the time guests can enjoy outdoors from six to almost 10 months of the year. These take inspiration from Mozarabic courtyards, which were traditionally cooled by shading, plants and ornamental fountains. All of the resort’s elevated pools are acrylic-fronted, inviting guests to swim up to 43 stories in the air, while simultaneously looking out to the skyline and beyond. This surprising experience of being both over and beneath water is truly unique.
James von Klemperer, President and Design Principal, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, notes, “We were asked to dream big on this project. To create something unique and iconic for Dubai—and when I look at it now, I’m amazed by the audacity of the whole undertaking. I’m bowled over by what’s been built, with its vertical piling up of outdoor experiences in the pools, outside spaces and remarkable design features at every turn. The gardens in the sky, first imagined in sketches on paper, are now realized hundreds of feet above the ground.”
Tim Kelly, Managing Director of Atlantis Dubai says, “This is it. Our moment is finally here to reveal Atlantis The Royal as the world’s most ultra-luxury resort. Atlantis the Royal is about experiencing something you never imagined could be and the architecture sets this up masterfully, with the six towers joined together by a 90-foot infinity pool, redrawing the Dubai skyline and creating a new icon on the Palm. It delivers a bespoke range of breath-taking experiences, inviting guests to swim amongst the clouds in sky pools and be dazzled by fountains that breathe fire. The unique building reflects the once in a lifetime experiences guests will have inside.”
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