Logo

DUBAI, Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates — You may soon be able to sleep with the fishes in the Middle East - and in luxury, which you might well expect when you're paying as much as US$5,500 for a day's lodging.

No, it's not some demented landlord's warped reworking of The Godfather script. Instead, it's the $500-million Hydropolis Hotel (http://hydropolis.com/) now being launched in Dubai, the capital city of Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates.

The project is nothing if not ambitious. Constructed from a combination of concrete, steel and clear Plexiglas, Hydropolis will be the world's first underwater luxury hotel. It will offer 220 suites, all sitting on the Persian Gulf floor 66 feet (20 meters) below the surface.

"I am sure that this project will create an international sensation and will also be the beginning of a new era in architecture," Joachim Hauser, the German architect and investor who's spearheading the project, said at last month's project announcement in Dubai.

Covering 27 acres (10.8 hectares), the project will feature architecture that's nothing if not attention-grabbing. The design includes three linked elements: a wave-shaped 333,333-sq.-ft. (30,000-sq.-m) above-ground "land station" and the jellyfish-shaped 833,333-sq.-ft. (75,000-sq.-m.) underwater hotel, linked by a submerged transparent train tunnel that's 1,700 feet (515 meters) long.

Among the project's other unusual architectural details are the hotel's two translucent domes, which will house a concert auditorium and a ballroom that break the water's surface, with the ballroom featuring a retractable roof. And that's not to mention the hotel's bubble-shaped suites, with clear glass comprising both the sleeping areas' walls and each room's bathtub.

"Hydropolis imparts a unique impression of distinctiveness and exclusivity, an attraction that does not diminish after a first phase of curiosity," Hauser said in his press conference presentation. "Guests from all over the world and from all cultures will be attracted by a multitude of offers, which simultaneously address mind, body and soul in an unparalleled manner. It is the dream of all humankind to live in and explore the sea."