Thursday, February 26, 2009

Extraordinary Centaurus Pakistan 7 Star Hotel Pictures

Pakistan is in the news these days for all the wrong reasons. However the violence and uncertainty in that country seems to have not overwhelmed their creativity and business entrepreneurship. In Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan where just a few months ago the infamous Red Mosque rebellion unfolded, a spectacular architectural masterpiece is currently under construction. The centerpiece of this project is a 37 story tower which looks like a ski jump and when completed in 2010 will be one the handful of 7 STAR hotels in the world.

According to Wikipedia the 7 star hotel is part of The Centaurus mixed development project involving over 6.5 acres of land in Islamabad's arterial corridor, called Blue Area. The whole complex includes the 37 story 7 star hotel, two 21 story residential towers, a 25 story corporate office tower, and a 5 story shopping mall. The complex will also have a parking lot to accommodate over 2,000 vehicles. The Hotel and the complex is designed by the British architect firm WS Atkins PLC and is estimated to cost 350 million dollars. A special feature of the building is its earthquake resilience level. As Islamabad is situated in a earthquake zone the hotel is designed to withstand an earthquake of up to 9.5 magnitude.
The Centaurus 7 star hotel and building complex is built by Pak Gulf Construction (Pvt) Ltd (PGCL) of Islamabad which is a joint venture between Al Tamimi of Saudi Arabia and Sardar Builders of Pakistan. So like many other recent spectacular real estate development projects this also seems to be funded by Arab petrodollars.Here are some more illustrations of how Pakistan’s Centaurus 7 star hotel will look like.








However some Pakistanis seem to have reservations about this 7 star hotel and the building’s design. Even going through the comments in this post about the hotel in the All Things Pakistan blog you can see many comments about the hotel’s design and it becoming an eyesore in Islamabad's skyline. Besides serving residential, commercial, and business purposes, the complex is intended to symbolize the growth of Pakistan, and to enable it to host international conferences and seminars in Pakistan's capital city. To wrap up this post, here are some pitchy words from Adil Najam on this from the post in the All Things Pakistan blog I mentioned earlier.
"I am not sure we need any more discussion about whether this hotel is a good idea or not. But what about the design? Is this eye-candy or eye-sore? Will this really take us to the ‘next frontier’ (apologies for the pun)? Does this look more like ‘heaven on earth’ or ‘pie in the sky’?"For more about the Centaurus 7 star hotel in Pakistan check out the official website of project at TheCentaurus.com.
(Image credit: TheCentaurus.com)




One of the most beautiful hotels in the world - coming soon

Shanghai in China.
Although from these pictures the hotel looks almost unreal, the project is expected to be completed by May, 2009.
The quarry will protect the resort from the weather and reduce the energy needs of the hotel. The complex will contain restaurants, cafes, sport facilities, and will even include underwater public areas and guestrooms.
The hotel will have 400 bed resort which will stand two levels higher than the rock face of the 100 metre deep quarry.
Two underwater levels will house a restaurant and guestrooms facing a ten-metre deep aquarium. The lowest level of the hotel will contain a leisure complex with a swimming pool and water-based sports.
An extreme sports centre for activities such as rock climbing and bungee jumping will be cantilevered over the quarry and accessed by special lifts from the water level of the hotel.




Martin Jochman, the chief in design team, says “We drew our inspiration from the quarry setting itself, adopting the image of a green hill cascading down the natural rock face as a series of terraced landscaped hanging gardens. In the centre, we have created a transparentglass ‘waterfall’ from a central vertical circulation atrium connectingthe quarry base with the ground level. This replicates the natural waterfalls on the existing quarry face.”



Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Hotel Eliseo








DESCRIPTION
Hotel Eliseo is a great thermal center and beauty farm among the 3-star hotels at the Terme Euganee. It is located in a peaceful large park with huge evergreen trees on Viale Stazione, on the shopping promenade of Montegrotto Terme.
The hotel was designed, built and managed by the Migliolaro family since 1956, and welcomes guest in elegant rooms with impressive windows overlooking the park. Its lounges and intimate areas are excellent to look at TV or to have conversations in. In the hall there is also a bar and the reception desk that welcomes guests from 7 in the morning to 2 at night and provides useful information on the thermal spa holiday, as well as the programs of the SPA, and also the attractions of Euganei Hills, Montegrotto, Abano Terme, and nearby Padua and Venice. The spa facility is within Hotel Eliseo and the splendid and large thermal pools with 36°C water, are connected to each other. One is found inside while the other is set outdoors in the middle of the green park, with lounge chairs and umbrellas available to guests for maximum comfort. The breakfast room can be found on the mezzanine floor, it comes as an American style buffet with a great variety of low-calories sweet and salty foods, served with fruit juices and hot beverages. The restaurant is in the grand salon of the main floor and overlooks the park, and offers a very varied cuisine to meet the needs and tastes of clients. The chef at Hotel Eliseo also organizes themed evenings, romantic candlelit dinners and delicious tasting of typical dishes from the Euganei Hills. When summer comes these beautiful evenings are held on the pool terrace, and continue with music and entertainment in the beautiful park of the hotel.

Thermal pools
The Hotel Eliseo is equipped with two comfortable communicating indoor and outdoor, thermal pools that may be accessed directly from the rooms, with 35 hot-tubs for the entire body, cervical waterfalls, effervescent cots, underwater hydromassage for legs, buttocks, back and abdominals. At Abano and at the Terme Euganee, there are many hotels for hot springs vacation (at Abano Terme) and for thermal stays (at Montegrotto),but none are like the Hotel Eliseo, with large and functional thermal pools.
The water has a temperature of 35 / 36° C, mineral salts are in abundance, perfect for medical cures and wellness programmes…

Monday, February 16, 2009

Burj al-Arab was the dream of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan

They say, Burj al-Arab was the dream of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan, which turned out to be a physical reality years later in Dubai.
Check out some 53 High quality photos of Burj Al Arab Urf Burj Al Srab Dubai Urf Burj Al Arab Hotel pictures after the jump !
Some Facts about this Hotel :
The Burj al-Arab (Arabic: برج العرب, “Tower of the Arabs”) is a luxury hotel in Dubai, the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates, and was briefly marketed as “the world’s first seven-star hotel”. It was designed by Tom Wright of WS Atkins PLC. At 321 metres (1,053 ft), it is the tallest building used exclusively as a hotel. It stands on an artificial island 280 metres (919 ft) out from Jumeirah beach, and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. It is an iconic structure, designed to symbolize Dubai’s urban transformation and to mimic the shape of an Arab dhow



The marketing technique of self-declaring the 7 star title has worked very well. Burj al-Arab became one of the most wanted destinations, and not only in the United Arab Emirates. To keep objectivity, the hotel is officially 5 star deluxe. The service and the unseen luxury definitely makes it stand out of the other 5 star hotels. The service includes private chauffeur with Rolls Royce or BMW 7, private reception desk every floor, helicopter pad (helicopter trips to the center of Dubai or to the Dubai International Airport), restaurant located 200m above the sea level, with amezing view on the city. The hotel offers free entry to the Wild-Wadi Water Park as well
Burj al-Arab has the most luxurious interior imaginable. Khuan Chew, Design Principal of KCA International was responsible for the interior design. The most expensive materials were used throughout the building. There is no exact data about the cost of the hotel, but rumours say that the return of investment could be 100 years, although the nights at Burj al-Arab start at $1000. The Royal Suite costs $28000 per night.
There are 202 duplex suites in the hotel, the smallest suite starts at 169 m², and the largest is 780 m². Each suite has floor to the ceiling windows with spectacular views on the Persian Gulf. Every suite has sumptuous living and dining area, and office facilities. They are equipped with 42 inch Plasma screen TV, and everything is automated and can be controlled via remote. The list goes on, like 13 pillows to choose from and similar thoughtful care for the guests.

There is huge variety of brilliant, elegant restaurants that offer much more than the average. Al Mahara (The Oyster) let you enjoy your meal next to a large circle aquarium. The Skyview Bar leaves you with an unforgettable experience drinking coctails -made by Rikard Lindqvist (mixologist) from Sweden- 200 m above the sea-level. If that is not enough, there are 8 more restaurants to choose from.

Trick to get in for free: There is an entry fee to the hotel if you just want to see it from the inside, which is about ~50 euros. Although there is a trick that might help you get in without payment. Make a reservation on the phone for any restaurant in Burj al-Arab, you will get a reservation number which you have to show at the front gate. When you get inside to the hotel, just avoid the restaurant. Make sure you dont give your real phone number to them.

The Tower of the Arabs from an exact angle (sailing into the city of Dubai) can be viewed as a Christian symbol, the cross. It is still widely disputed, wether the British architects made it intentionally, or this is only a harmless coincidence. As United Arab Emirates is an Islamic country, such symbol would not make the locals happy, as Burj al-Arab is the iconic tower of their country, that represents their dream of the modern Dubai.

Burj al-Arab was the first hotel to self-declare the 7-star title, but soon another hotel appeared in the United Arab Emirates, the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. While Burj al-Arab lies on a small artificial island, Emirates Palace is surrounded by a spectacular garden with multiple swimming pools and amezing fountains. The hotel kept the traditional arabic architectural style.

The tower that resembles the sail of dhow, became the world’s tallest hotel with the height of 321m in 1999, and the iconic tower of Dubai. The construction took 6 years (1994-1999).