World's first underwater hotel to be located in Dubai

The world's first underwater hotel, to be built in Dubai, will be located right by a coral reef. (Deep Ocean Technology)

Tweet

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

Besides hosting the only seven-star hotel, Dubai is also the location of the world's five tallest hotels. 

But that hasn't stopped the emirate from one-upping itself.  

Dubai will soon be the site of the world's first underwater hotel. 

On May 2, local shipbuilding company Drydocks World was named the exclusive contractor for the underwater hotel's construction by Swiss company Big InvestConsult AG (BIG AG). The project is estimated to cost around $50 million to $100 million.

BIG AG represents Polish company Deep Ocean Technology (DOT), which conceptualized the Water Discus Hotel. For the latter, DOT won the Gold Medal Award in the 2011 Technicon Innowacje, which is an innovation, technology, and education fair in Gdansk, Poland.

The luxury Water Discus Hotel, which has been patented, will be situated by a coral reef.

The structure will have two disc-shaped areas, one under water and the other above it, with three support beams connecting them to the seabed, as well as a vertical passage which will contain an elevator and stairway.

Each disc will be a minimum of a thousand square meters in size. These can be detached and moved elsewhere if, according to the DOT website, "any changes in environmental or economic conditions occur."

The submerged disc will be ten meters below the surface, and will contain 21 rooms. Each room is designed so guests can stay in their room while gazing at the marine life on the other side of the barrier.

Through "special lighting" and "miniature underwater vehicles," guests can take a look at even the tiniest underwater creatures right in the comfort of their room.

There will also be a restaurant, spa, and seawater swimming pools.

A dive center is also to be built next to the hotel so guests can complete their underwater experience.

Safety is not a problem, DOT assures. 

On its website it claims that the design of the structure will keep its inhabitants secure, "even in the event of a fairly high tsunami." The submerged disc, DOT says, will immediately surface should any underwater hazards occur.

"This is a new invention, how to create cities in waters," said Drydocks World chairman Khamis Juma Buamim in an interview with United Arab Emirates' 7 National News on the same day he signed a memorandum of understanding with BIG AG.

He added, "It's quite… imaginative …to create basically living things in the sea and create an atmosphere whereby minimal, if not …zero, [environmental] risk to any of the coastlines or …the seabed and create a value for our investment long and short-term." InterAksyon.com

Follow @interaksyon