Super-thin skyscraper, just one apartment wide, planned for Dubai
By Lianne Kolirin, CNN
(CNN) — A super-narrow skyscraper, measuring no more than a single apartment across, is being planned for Dubai.
The Muraba Veil will reach 1,247 feet into the sky but will be just about 74 feet across, according to details revealed by the architects and developer behind the project.
The 73-story tower will feature 131 apartments with between two and five bedrooms each, according to a statement sent to CNN by the project’s United Arab Emirates-based developer, Muraba. The high-end apartment block will feature “a range of curated leisure amenities,” including a spa, restaurant, gallery, padel court and private movie theater, it said.
The striking tower will be built next to a canal by Dubai’s main transport artery, Sheikh Zayed Road. It was designed by Spanish architecture firm RCR Arquitectes, winner of the prestigious Pritzker Prize — an award often dubbed the “Nobel of architecture” — in 2017.
It is the fifth collaboration between Muraba and RCR Arquitectes, which expect the Muraba Veil to be complete by December 2028.
Needless to say, an apartment in the city’s latest luxury address does not come cheap — prices start at 18 million dirham ($4.9 million).
Each apartment will occupy the full width of the building and will be modeled on traditional Arabian houses, around an inner courtyard and “softened by shade and greenery,” the developer said.
The building’s design is meanwhile “revealed behind a series of layers,” with the first being the “veil,” which the creative team describes as “a bespoke stainless steel mesh, porous and responsive, reflecting the different shades of the sky.”
In a press statement, Rafael Aranda, founder of RCR Arquitectes, said: “We are passionate about ensuring our buildings are responsive to the place, that they belong to the site and the native landscape where they are situated. They must communicate with nature and be infused with the atmosphere of the local culture.”
Dubai’s super-sized skyline is already home to the world’s tallest skyscraper — the Burj Khalifa, which stands at 2,717 feet tall — and it will soon be home to the second-tallest, too. Last month, the property developer behind the Burj Azizi, also due to be finished in 2028, announced that the skyscraper will stretch to 2,379 feet.
Dubai currently has more towers measuring over 300 meters (984 feet) than any other city in the world, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
The city is no stranger to superlative structures. It boasts the world’s highest infinity pool, the world’s largest natural flower garden, and the world’s largest picture frame, to name a few.
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Rebecca Cairns, CNN contributed to this report.
