Hydropolis Hotel

DUBAI: HYDROPOLIS HOTEL
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This hotel, the world's first underwater luxury resort, brings new meaning to the "ocean-view room." Situated 66 feet below the surface of the Persian Gulf, Hydropolis will feature 220 guest suites. Reinforced by concrete and steel, its Plexiglas walls and bubble-shaped dome ceilings offer sights of fish and other sea creatures. It is scheduled to open in late 2007.

The Hydropolis is a self-acclaimed 10-star, underwater hotel which was under construction in Dubai. However, as of February 2007, Hydropolis' launch has been relaunched, due to cost issues and concerns over the project's impact on marine life, the project has faced major delays.

Hyrdropolis is envisioned as a fantasy hotel beneath the waves. This submarine hotel is inspired by the Jules Verne tale 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It will be an underwater oasis where visitors can marvel at the architecture surrounding them, and the sea beyond.

The project is divided into three sections. The "land station" is the complex where visitors are first greeted. It is a large building with a roof that dips and rolls like the crest of a wave. From there, people enter a tunnel to begin their journey to the hotel, itself. The tunnel is 1,700 feet long and carries a train beneath both the land and the sea.

The destination, of course, is the hotel itself. Mimicking natural forms, it is shaped like a collection of bubbles and curves designed to provide maximum resistance against the everyday pressures of the sea water as well as the occasional typhoon that may stray into this area. It has already been compared to both a jellyfish and a sea turtle. It features a pair of observation domes which allow an expansive view of the water and the creatures that live in it. They are large enough to emerge above the waves, and one is planned with a retractable roof allowing people to be surrounded by the ocean while looking directly into the sky.