An outrageous new resort opens this Fall, dramatically changing the skyline in Dubai. FIVE's second hospitality and residential project, FIVE Jumeirah Village Dubai, offers a luxury tower with 247 hotel rooms and suites, 221 one and two-bedroom hotel apartments and 33 four-bedroom hotel apartments, all with private pools or Jacuzzi's.

Located a short drive from Dubai’s new Al Maktoum International Airport and Expo 2020 site, the stunning design of the property, developed in-house by FIVE, has been registered as a trademark by the company in 168 countries.

This is not just another tower in Dubai’s skyline, it is a futuristic new property providing each unit with a landscaped garden and private swimming pool, even at the height of 800 ft.

The mastermind behind this one-of-a-kind design is CEO of FIVE Real Estate Development, Nabil Akiki. Mr. Akiki created a rotating design that features advanced architecture to maximize natural daylight and create spaces that simultaneously conserve energy.

The open space architecture allows sunlight to shine through the core of the 60-story tower while a vertical micro-climate with over half a million sq. ft. of plant life helps to naturally maintain the temperature. Each apartment benefits from a dramatic 200- degree view of Dubai and offers an astounding 156 pools and 134 Jacuzzi's.

Nabil Akiki told me about his design inspirations and challenges in creating this spectacular property. "The connection between humans and nature is a basic and natural necessity. As such, each apartment incorporates an extensive outdoor terrace, including pool, to bring the outdoors indoors. The concept of this connection combined with open spaces and this lifestyle has accompanied me since my childhood and has served me positively as inspiration for the design of FIVE Jumeirah Village."

Describing what separates this building from other hi-rises, he says "Conventional buildings are valued from top to bottom, wherein your highest floors at the highest rates compared to the lower ones. With FIVE Jumeirah Village, all levels are penthouses and equal the features and value of each other, increasing the value of the conventionally, underselling levels by far."

"With conventional architecture, you lose land and turn it into concrete. The concept of integrated lush terrace apartments allow you to gain seven-times more green living compared to the land you have lost for the construction. It’s a contribution into ecology and green community concepts with a focus on sustainable lifestyle and LEED regulations."

"This pioneering design features three revolving wings on each floor, which rotate continuously through the building. The roof becomes the garden of the upper apartment. The revolving void creates a natural cooling system, decreasing the temperature by 2-3 degrees compared to conventional building approaches."

Building such a dramatic building did not come without challenges, and Mr. Akiki explained, "It was a challenge for even the most experience consultants to believe in the design concept. Beginning with accommodating the building’s functional infrastructure and services for each floor, such as MEP installations, due to the absence of conventional vertical shafts. The solution was to create a core building that connects the three revolving wings. All services lead below the slabs horizontally on each floor and connect to the core of the building which incorporates a vertical distribution to the ground floor level."

"Conventional architecture balances the water and concrete weight through columns, jeopardizing the open space and gardens. Our focus was on minimizing columns to increase the open space, through cantilever slabs, specially designed for this building. Additionally, to the water weight lifted by the building, we also needed to ensure waterproofing. Due to the limitations of conventional drainage systems, our focus fell on polyurex, a sprayed system onto the concrete surface, 4-times more efficient than conventional systems."

The design elements of the tower are also unique, and he tells me, "Each apartment provides residents with a penthouse lifestyle, which means you have three fully open, window sides. Conventional apartments feature the opposite, three enclosed walls. The increased glass, also increases the temperate your apartment is exposed to, resulting in higher cooling and environmental impacts. We used double glassed windows and created shades facing from the lush terraces to naturally balance the temperature exchange."

The five-star resort also includes a main pool; gourmet street food restaurant; ReFIVE urban spa, and a state-of-the-art gym. Guests are also allowed access to Palm Jumeirah with its beach, restaurants, and bars.