If you look at the Dubai skyline, chances are you’ll be admiring the work of Yahya Jan . He is president and chief design officer of the architecture and engineering firm Norr responsible for some of the city’s best-known landmarks, including the hotels Atlantis It is Shangri-La .
Now he is working on one of his most ambitious creations. Scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024, the hotel Ciel Dubai Marina colloquially called Ciel Tower, will have over a thousand rooms and suites in 82 floors — and at around 365 meters high, it is destined to become the tallest hotel in the world.
“A passion project”
For the project, Jan was tasked with designing the skyscraper on a triangular plot of land in Dubai Marina, with an area of just 2,500 square meters — small for a building of that height.
“It’s a very compact property,” he told CNN in 2021. “It’s like what you would face in Manhattan or London. The restrictions were tremendous, and yet we had to make it work.”
A glass observation deck will offer 360-degree views of the city, as well as the coastline and iconic landmarks such as the man-made island Palm Jumeirah according to developer The First Group. Visitors will also be able to enjoy the scenery from a rooftop pool and restaurants.
In addition to aesthetics, the project is energy efficient, using 25% less energy for air conditioning than is typical for similar buildings, Jan said.
“This project is not just about architecture. It’s really about the union of architecture and engineering,” he added. “That’s why I love the project so much. It’s my passion, the convergence of science and art.”
Throughout construction, Jan said he has been “very involved” in the work. “When you do a project as complex as Ciel, you can never let your guard down, you can never say it’s finished,” he said. “It’s an ongoing process.”
Extended stay in Dubai
When Jan first arrived in Dubai in 1996, he never imagined he would leave such a huge legacy, designing some of the city’s most iconic offices, residential towers and shopping malls.
He grew up in Karachi, Pakistan and moved to the US on a scholarship at the age of 18. After studying structural engineering at Princeton, he earned a master’s degree in architecture.
After that, Jan worked in the US for nine years with no intention of leaving the country. That is, at least, until he received a job offer to be a senior designer at the office and hotel complex Emirates Towers .
Now 61, he said he never planned to stay in the UAE for so long, having been in Dubai for 28 years. “I got caught up in the excitement here,” he said.
As for Ciel Tower — named after the French word for sky — Jan hopes it will be seen as timeless, like the Empire State Building or the Chrysler Building in New York .
“The reason I like the fact that it’s called Ciel is because I believe that in our own lives the sky’s the limit, and that’s certainly the case in my own life,” he said. “I’ve had the chance to grow, to do things that I didn’t think I would have the chance to do. So it’s been amazing.”
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Source: CNN Brasil
Johanna Foster is an expert opinion writer with over 7 years of experience. She has a reputation for delivering insightful and thought-provoking articles on a variety of subjects. Her work can be found on some of the top online news websites, and she is currently lending her voice to the world stock market.
