The new Hotel Atlantic designed for a site in Dubai is a unique, contemporary interpretation of a world-class resort destination. The complex provides a unique vision for a technologically-advanced resort that will dazzle visitors while still offering the best in comfort, style and luxury.
The complex’s design is based on a linear composition of two buildings sited parallel to the beach, with the 35-story residential tower to the east and the 35-story hotel tower to the west, offering unique views to all rooms.
A main feature of the tower design is a canopy veil that frames the buildings, extending off the towers by 10 meters on each side.
The canopy unites the composition of the two towers and provides shading to the public spaces below. The also veil acts as a overall floodlight for the buildings, creating another dimension, which adds to the depth of space to the complex. The north and south canopy facades have light options to punctuate the glass at regular intervals, highlighting the canopy’s structural elements.
The color of the buildings can also be changed with these lights.
The canopy was designed to be constructed of an assembly of steel columns and beams that are rigidly connected to create a frame structure. The frame structure will be “tuned” to an optimal stiffness that is sympathetic to the behavior of the tower to avoid incompatibilities under wind and seismic events, as well as long-term shortening of the tower. The basic stability of the frame out-of-plane is provided by a network of steel stubs or props that attach back to the reinforced concrete tower. These attachment points are anticipated at the tower slab edges that align with the exterior canopy frame (every four stories), and at column lines on the roof level that align with the canopy grid overhead.