One of the most amazing pieces of architecture and engineering has to be The Burj Al Arab in Dubai. It is the fourth tallest hotel in the world standing at 1,053 ft on an artificial island 920ft outside Jumeriah beach. It’s connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge and it is referred to as the “Arab Sail” because of its distinguishing structure built to look just like the sail of a ship.
The sail structure of the Burj Al Arab has become very significant to the country since its completion in December 2009. Tom Wright, the architect was told by the client that he wanted a building that would become an iconic or symbolic statement of Dubai, much like other monumental buildings around the world are symbolic for their countries like the Eifel Tower in Paris, Big Ben in London, the Opera House in Sydney and the Statue of Liberty in New York. Construction for this project brought upon several engineering challenges, including the 130 ft long concrete piles that had to be driven into the sand for the man-made island to secure the foundation and the 590ft atrium inside the building itself.
Despite the enormous size of the Burj Al Arab, it only has 28 double-story floors which contain 202 bedroom suits. The smallest suite is about 1,820 sq ft while the largest of their suites covers 8,400 sq ft. This limited number of accommodations makes the hotel fully booked all year round, which makes prices to stay at this hotel no surprise ranging from $1,000-$24,000 per night. The 5 star official rating has been sometimes referred to as an understatement. Rumors of the hotel being a seven-star began floating around after a British journalist visited the magnificent hotel on a pre-opening trip and described it as beyond anything she had ever experienced.