Super luxury hotel in Dubai, which is 87- storey and soars 355.35 metre into the skies, has made it to the as the tallest hotel in world. JW Marriott Marquis Dubai spirals over the 333-metre high, 72-storey Rose Rayhaan Hotel by Rotana but falls well short of the 829.8-metre tall Burj Khalifa in Dubai. And, standing tall with his ideation is Ashok Korgaonkar, a Mumbai-born architect, whose design and project management made the twin tower hotel a destination for the owners — Emirates Airlines.
The building took eight years to complete. It started on 2006 and completed on 2012. Because of the recession in 2008 the project was slowed down by over a year.
Mr. Ashok Korgaonkar headed a 150-member team of architects and engineers, whose proficiencies also cover planning, structural and supervision.The hotel has 7 podiums, 66 guest, eight service and six intermediate levels. Nineteen restaurants and a 1,000-seat banquet hall are part of the 3.4-lakh sq. ft. towering structure. Over 1,054 parking slots are open for the guests.
Korgaonkar has offices at Pune, Mumbai and New Delhi, where he is also doing well.
Though architects from the West dominated the scene in Dubai’s ultra luxury projects, Arch group International, had managed to make a mark. They got their first break from the Emirates Airlines in 1999 when they were called to do a 200-room five-star Meridien hotel for them based on his track record. The project was executed within the timeframe and without a cost overrun.
The twin tower are inspired by the date palm — a symbol well entrenched in Arabian culture. They are symmetrically placed on a seven-storey high podium. The podium terrace is landscaped with gardens, swimming pools and a party lawn.
The delicate forms and detailing of the exterior belie the sophisticated engineering that had gone into the construction. The structural design had undergone rigorous testing and rechecking on computer-generated models and wind tunnel tests.
On challenges, Korgaonkar felt the architecture, design and structure were a non-issue, compared to client specifications and staying within the budget.
Though construction is complete, the interiors of the second tower are being worked upon and scheduled for completion in 2014.
