“This city is always pushing itself to accomplish something never before done,” says architect Fadi Jabri, head of Nikken Sekkei’s Dubai office. Record-setters abound—the Burj Khalifa is still the world’s tallest building 14 years after completion. The financial capital has also sprouted a gilded gateway, the Dubai Frame, and multiple sets of twins—such as the Emirates and Al Kazim towers. “We wanted to add something new to a skyline that seems to have everything; this was the challenge for us,” he adds.
Such a simple-sounding exercise belies the complexity of realizing that achievement while building One Za’abeel, a double-towered mixed-use complex that spans an active road and shatters the record for longest occupiable cantilever. Situated in a little-developed neighborhood between historic Old Dubai and the dense downtown, the two skyscrapers—one 1,000 feet tall and the other 770—spring from a three-story, greenery-capped plinth that sits on a triangular island bounded by a sea of multilane highways. Getting there—and leaving—without the aid of a car is an onerous task, but that’s more or less the point. One Za’abeel was partly envisioned as a luxury “urban resort”—the sky-high version of an all-inclusive hotel—packed with amenities and places to eat, shop, and relax.
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