First-time visitor to Dubai Frankie Chopin, above, took time out from luxuriating at her chosen hotel, JUMEIRAH BEACH CLUB, to model in front of th strategically-floodlit BURJ AL ARAB. Whoever decided to bathe this unique hotel in Yves Klein blue deserves a medal. It puts a whole new slant on an already memorable hostelry.
Burj Al Arab, another Jumeirah hotel, is the icon of Dubai, and it always will be, regardless of Burj Al-Khalifa (taller) and MADINAT JUMEIRAH, also a Jumeirah property, and, further along The Palm, EMIRATES PALACE RAFFLES and other uber-luxury places to stay.
Why, one wonders, are so many hotels still ‘vertical boxes’ with no Apple-type curves – oh if only Apple legend Jony Ive would divert to designing hotels! Girlahead does admire some of the exteriors of Rosewood’s newer hotels, in Beijing and Hong Kong. And top marks go to two Singapore hotels. PAN PACIFIC ORCHARD has whole floors turned into terraces, with columns supporting floors above. And, from the same company, PARKROYAL ON PICKERING. Both these put a new slant on hotel design.
Question – why don’t North American or even European hotels spring to mind for outstanding contemporary creativity? Please proffer answers.
