Princess Tower is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, it is one of the tallest buildings in Dubai and is the first all-residential building in the world.
Below are facts about the tower and some related information.
Location
Princess Tower is located on Al Sufouh Road in Dubai Marina, a waterfront district in Dubai, the tower directly overlooks the Persian Gulf without any other buildings blocking the views. There are many other supertall skyscrapers built near Princess Tower, forming a densely packed concrete jungle.
Nearby iconic buildings or places include the Palm Jumeirah, and Burj Al Arab, which is 6.9 km northeast of the Princess Tower.
The tower is situated right besides the tramway of Dubai Tram, which passes by the tower at its north side. Dubai Metro is also located near the tower, providing convenient access to Downtown Dubai and other districts in the city from the tower.
Height
The architectural height of Princess Tower is 414 meters (1358 ft), this is measured to the tip of its spire from the ground. In May 2012, Guinness World Records recognized the tower as the World's Tallest Residential Building, the same title was also recognized by the CTBUH in the same time. This title was overtaken by the 426-meter-tall 432 Park Avenue in New York City in 2015.
As of 2018, Princess Tower is the 3rd tallest residential building in the world, after 432 Park Avenue and the Marina 101, which is another residential tower in Dubai Marina. Among all types of skyscrapers, Princess Tower is the 3rd tallest building in Dubai, and the 31st tallest building in the world, ranked right after the Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai.
The spire on top of Princess Tower is 22 meters long, the roof of the tower's dome is 392 meters (1286 ft) high from the ground, the dome is a decorative structure, it's actually empty and is built upon the real roof of the building, which is at 377 meters (1237 ft) high from the ground.
The tower has 101 above-ground floors, the highest occupied floor is 97th floor at 357 meters (1171 ft) high.
Uses
Princess Tower occupies a land area of 37,410 square feet, the tower has 101 floors above the ground and six underground floors, the total floor area of the building is 171,175 square meters (1,842,512 sq ft).
The tower houses 763 luxury apartments, including one, two, three and four bedroom apartments, these apartments occupy the building's 7th to 94th floors.
Penthouses are located on the 96th floor. The 97th floor is the highest occupied floor, offering panoramic views of the Marina, the Palm Jumeirah and the rest of the city, the floor is for multipurpose, being used to hold some recreational and business events.
Above that are mechanical floors, a tuned liquid damper is placed at 98th floor to counteract wind forces to make the building more stable.
The building also offers several recreational facilities to its residents, these facilities include gymnasiums, indoor swimming pools, billiard and table tennis, which are occupying the 5th and 6th floors, an outdoor swimming pool is on the roof of the building's podium.
There are 13 elevators in the building. As a tower located in Dubai, where Islam is the major religion, the tower also has a mosque exclusively open to its residents.
The bottom floors are occupied by eight retail stores. The six underground floors are used as parking lot, holding 957 parking bays for the residents in the building.
At the time of the opening of Princess Tower, its apartments were selling for an average of 950 Dirham (approximately 260 US Dollars) a square foot, which was lower than that of other properties in Dubai.
Design
Princess Tower was designed by Eng. Adnan Saffarini, a local architectural firm in Dubai, it also designed the nearby Elite Residence and the Al Yaqoub Tower on Sheikh Zayed Road, which are two other supertall towers in the city.
The architecture style of Princess Tower is Postmodern, this can be seen on the building's diverse patterns of the façade. The façade of the building is divided into several discernible sections on both vertical and horizontal directions.
Vertically, the pattern of the façade is almost same on the section under 290 meters. Above that section, the pattern changes, with glass cladding divided by a line of vertical panels, and the corners of the upper section are lined with windows.
Like other postmodern buildings, Princess Tower is no lacking of decorative elements, the tower has a decorative dome at the crown. The crown is the most iconic feature of the tower, it's very similar to the crowns on Mosque buildings, the dome is topped with a spire, weighing 110 tonnes and is made of steel and aluminum. Under the dome are two series of ring structures, each of them is surrounded with crenelated teeth.
Development
Princess Tower was first proposed in 2005 by its developer Tameer Holding Investment, in 2006 Arabian Construction Company was contracted to build the tower, the construction of the tower began in 2006.
In May 2012, Princess Tower surpassed 23 Marina(The previous record holder for the world's tallest residential building) in height becoming the tallest residential building in the world.
The tower was completed in July 2012, it is estimated that the project cost $210 million. Princess Tower was opened to its residents in September 2012.