First up is the seven star luxurious Town House Galleria in Milan, Italy. Located in the heart of the city, this fairly new hotel offers prestige living and a service menu that will gain you immediate entry into waiting lists that are as long as the green mile.
Offering a personal butler, Bentley and only the best in food and drink, Town House Galleria will make all wishes come true while you stay in Milan. Whether you need tickets to Da Vinci’s Last Supper, get entry to the hottest restaurant in town or need a rare import, it can all be arranged for you and seemingly fast if some reports are to go by.
Dubai’s seven star Burj Al Arab Hotel has long become a synonym for grandeur, class and style. Offering limousine service, private transfer for all guests via private golf cart, private butler service and just about anything else that is being associated with luxury, the Burj Al Arab Hotel is located in the premier Jumeirah Beach area of Dubai.
The Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi was named the worlds finest hotel in the middle east in 2007. Featuring some out of this world indulgence, staying in this hotel would be like stepping into thousand and one night.
Huge plush pillows, plasma TV, private butler service, laptops in each room, wireless Internet, private check in and much more will delight visitors to this splendid seven star hotel.
Yet to be finished luxury hotels
There are several more planned high prestige hotels in various stages of development. Whilst some are scheduled to be completed next month other are not likely to see the light of the day till 2010.
The Morgan Plaza is a super-luxury 7 star hotel under construction in Beijing, China. Although it was set to be finished last month’s, there has been no official confirmation of it completion yet but it definitely going to be completed in time for the Beijing Olympics. When completed it is rumoured to be possibly more luxurious than the Burj Al Arab and has been considered to be the official landmark of China, still in competition with the Shanghai World Financial Center.
The plaza will contain two pavilions, a temple, the world’s best Japanese restaurant and a 600 meter long corridor.
The $350 million, 7-Star Centaurus Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan will help to put this country on the map for international travellers once the project is completed around 2010.
Resembling a Flower as its name suggest, the luxury Persian seven-star hotel, ‘The flower of the East’ is located on Kish Island in Iran and is due to be completed by 2010.
It is clear that the demand for luxurious living while on the road is very high and we are sure that this trend will continue to be strong. The Economist reported on the rise of the Gulf states on how their property boom seems to just keep going. It is therefore no surprise to see much of these seven star hotels appear in these countries.
Apeiron Hotel is a design concept for a new 7 star hotel in Dubai. Developer and construction schedule have not been announced as of October 2007. The Apeiron Hotel would be the second 7 star hotel to be built in Dubai (The Burj Al Arab hotel was the first 7 star hotel). Designed by UK’s Sybarite Architects, the hi-tech futuristic hotel would feature a two-storeyed jungle at the top of the 28-storeyed building. The seven star hotel is an US $350 million project that would be 300m from the coast of Dubai. Access to the hotel is restricted to water and air only.
HOTEL STATISTICS:total floors: 28 (above ground), total suites: 438, suite sizes: 180m² - 750m², building height: 185m, gross floor area: 300,000m², site footprint area:26,500m², passenger lifts: 14, service lifts: 8, distance off shore: 300m (Building design is equally as powerful within a landlocked site), wind load factor: 350km per hour, structure: steel, reinforced concrete.
The hotel also contains private cinemas, luxury boutiques, conference rooms and restaurants. Other features will include an art gallery, shops, underwater spa & gym, an underwaterrestaurant. The hotel’s internal facade has louvers to prevent direct sunlight and will made up of solar cells as is the ribbon that frames the building that can generate some energy for the entire hotel. The 28-storey hotel environs will have an artificial crescent-shaped beach, private lagoons and a central lagoon with colourful coral reefs surrounding it.
Designer: Bigelow Aerospace, Las Vegas Location: 515-kms above Earth Status: The human space complex will be accessible by 2015 Estimated project cost: $500 million Cost per person: $1 million a night
Certainly, we’ll have to stop this constant to and fro journey and make space our permanent base. And to make this a reality, the assembling of ‘CSS Skywalker’ kicked off with the launch of ‘Genesis I’ from Russia mid last year. Solar cells will power the inhabitable complex made of various sections that will inflate to take their real form in space. The sections or rooms of the CSS
will allow rockets to dock. In future, the modules will be used as basis for space yachts and moon cruisers.
With a volume of 1,500.00 m3 and mass of 100,000 kg, the CSS Skywalker will have a maximum diameter of 30.00 m (98.00 ft).
The concept is a big challenge while it tests inflatable technology and fights to survive in hazardous conditions. Hope it’s made to face the wrath of the meteorites, though the hull of each module is made of three protective layers with an outer 18-inch-thick shield made of alternating woven graphite composite and foam to protect against orbital debris. (Photo Credit: CNet)
Passing reference: The Diamond Ring Hotel Location: Abu Dhabi
The Diamond Ring hotel is just a concept right now and all we’ve are these images for you to feed on. If anybody reading this has more info, please share with our readers
Designer: Xavier Claramunt of ADD+ARQUITECTURA Status: On hold, prototype is ready
Designer Xavier Claramunt has tried to imbibe things especially to whet a adventurer’s dream with the Galactic Suite which will have around 22 rooms, measuring 7X4 meters, free of straight lines or angles and huge windows. It is termed as the first global project of its kind, next to Robert Bigelow’s space hotel. Different capsules will act as bars, restaurants, reception, and more.
The prototype is still waiting for investors to shell out their
The ‘Aeroscraft’ is a gigantic 400-ton blimp designed to carry passengers in its spacious luxury cosmos onboard. The flying hotel with an area equal to two football fields hangs in air with 14 million cubic feet of helium, huge electric and hydrogen fuel cell powered propellers and six turbofan jet engines. The hotel can accommodate 250 passengers driving them at a speed of 174 miles per hour up to 6, 000 miles.
Flying 8,000 feet above in the air, the 165×244x647 feet airship will provide tourists hi-tech amenities including casino, restaurants and staterooms.
Designer Igor Pasternak has also plans to float a cargo-carrying version too once the project takes off. (Photo Credit: WATG)
Designer: Hans-Jurgen Rombaut, Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo (WATG) Status: Blueprint ready, will take real shape by 2050
Orbiting in space seems more thrilling but Moon brings in a nostalgic aura. Perhaps, the Lunatic Hotel concept will serve it all with spectacular views sprinkled with joys of low gravity and an alien feeling. Designer Hans-Jurgen Rombaut of the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture in the Netherlands is quite optimistic to complete the dream project by 2050.
The ’sensation engine’, as the designer calls it, will allow tourists to indulge in low-gravity games with the help of two 160-meters high slanting towers. The towers will be equipped with teardrop-shaped ‘habitation capsules’ which will serve as spaceship like suits for tourists.
The 50-cms thick hull made of Moon rock and layers holding water will protect inhabitants from the harsh lunar environment including extreme temperatures and lethal cosmic rays and solar particles. If the whole concept comes out successful, we can expect a real lunar village too. (Photo Credit: NASA)
The Hydropolis Undersea Resort, especially designed keeping in mind that we’re around 60% water, endeavors to deliver the serene beauty of the ocean in its true colors. The one of its kind resort will encompass a whopping 1.1-million-square-foot of area offering shopping mall, ballroom, island villas, restaurant, high-tech cinema and surprisingly, a missile-defense system for your security 60-feet underwater.
Tourists can enjoy their stay in 220 theme suites within the submarine leisure complex. It is one of the largest contemporary construction projects in the world, covering an area of 260 hectares, about the size of London’s Hyde Park.
The resort is designed with a petal-like retracting roof to organize open-sky events.
Around 150 firms are involved in the project, which is expected to complete this year if all technical, land, and financial challenges are met, but it’s delayed as per the latest reports. Following the line and determined of the success of the Hydropolis, Crescent-Hydropolis is now planning a chain of underwater hotels around the world.
Location: Fiji, The Poseidon Mystery Island Designer: Bruce Jones Status: Under construction, will be completed by September 2008 Estimated project cost: $105 million Cost per person: $15,000 per week
Our pursuit of unique spaces now goes straight 1,200-square feet under the sea in the lap of Poseidon undersea resort. The world’s first underwater resort will be ready by the end of next year with breathtaking coral reefs where you can literally immerse yourself.
Surrounded by 5,000-acre lagoon, the Bruce Jones’ Poseidon Mystery Island offers luxurious 550 square feet large suites.
Not only this, the Poseidon Resorts website says, ‘the first 1,000 guests will have their names permanently inscribed on two monuments one on the island, and one on the floor of the lagoon.’ Now, that’s incredible!
Tourists can indulge in submarine piloting, deep reef excursions, scuba diving, sea track on the sea floor, water sports, para-sailing, cave exploration, and much more.
Location: Songjiang, China Designer: Atkin’s Architecture Group Status: Concept
This spectacular design by Atkin’s Architecture Group deservedly won the first prize award last year in an international design competition. The 400-bed resort hotel features underwater public areas, guest rooms, cafes, and restaurants. The major attraction is the extreme sporting facilities including a luxurious swimming pool, rock climbing and bungee jumping.
What more to say, the pictures are screaming BLISS. (Photo Credit: TheCoolHunter)
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates Designer: Tom Wright (WS Atkins PLC), Khuan Chew Status: Complete Estimated project cost: $650 million Cost per person: $1,000 to over $28,000 per night, $75 to have a glimpse from inside
Considered, unofficially, the world’s first and only 7-star hotel, the Burj al-Arab is a truly the most luxurious hotel imaginable and hence we couldn’t help including it in this list of futuristic hotels, which also perhaps triggered architects around the world to look beyond the fence.
The tallest, 321-metres (1,053 ft), hotel, designed as a sail of a dhow, is constructed on an artificial island 280-metres (919 ft) out from Jumeirah beach. The hotel boasts of the world’s tallest atrium, which is 180-meters (590 feet) tall.
The suspended helipad on the top adds to the grandeur of the hotel. The lavish interior skillfully mingles the best of design ethics from both the east and the west. The 8,000 square meters of 22-carat gold leaf and 24,000 square meters of 30 different types of marbles give the hotel an enigmatic touch.
The 28 double-story floors of the hotel accommodate 202 luxury suites with prices ranging from $1,000 to over $28,000 per night (for the Royal Suite). The hotel also features 8 restaurants, including bars and lounges, latest business, conferencing, fitness and recreational facilities. Carved in the midst of white beaches and the blue waters of the Arabian Gulf, the Burj Al Arab is a dream come true.
Designer:m3 Architects, London Estimated project cost: $72 to $104 million
The foldable and fully transportable pods are for those traveling geeks who find it hard to shun all the amenities of their luxurious life. You can move the pods to exotic locations around the world and the amazing concept abodes will come with ‘Active’ walls and floors where guests can focus images of their choice and a disposable unit to care of all waste. (Photo Credit: m3architects)
The ‘Apeiron’ island hotel is a seven star resort with a total floor area of 200,000m�. It is 185-m high and boasts of over 350 luxury apartment suites. The hi-tech futuristic hotel screams of luxury and comfort with its own private lagoon, beaches, restaurants, cinemas, retail shopping, art gallery, spas and conference facilities. Its out of the world design is magnetic enough to deliver a spell-bounded experience to visitors. (Photo Credit: Sybarite)
