The cancelled Dubai mega-projects

Before the debt crisis, Dubai was planning to have some of the most unique and ambitious construction projects on the planet. Among them were the Hydropolis - a $500 million underwater hotel, the Dancing Towers - a multi-billion project that would have seen several skyscrapers entwined together and Chess City... a city that, as the name would suggest, was to resemble a chessboard.

However, with the emirate rumoured to have debts totalling almost $60 billion, it is no surprise to learn that all of these schemes have been cancelled. Chess City alone was said to cost close to $3 billion.

Last year, it was rumoured that the emirate would be cancelling up to 27 major projects as the property market slumped, but as the debt crisis intensified, this was increased to 25 percent of ALL construction projects (For a full list of cancelled projects in Dubai, click here).

Although the emirate was given a $10 billion handout by its neighbour, Abu Dhabi and is now seeing a measure of recovery with the opening of the Burj Khalifa, we have decided to look back at some of the most ambitious projects that have now been taken back to the drawing board.

Chess City

Announced in October 2004, this $3 billion project was the brainchild of World Chess Federation (Fide) president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

It would feature clusters of hotels built in the shape of giant chess pieces, 16 black and 16 white hotels, sitting upon a 64-hectare plot of land that would landscaped to resemble a chessboard.

At the time of the announcement, Ilyumzhinov said the 'chessboard' would be configured according to what 'game was chosen as a blueprint'.

"So far we plan either to copy a Bobby Fischer game or possibly one of (Russian chess master Garry) Kasparov's," he told journalists at the project's press conference.

As you'd expect, the hotels would be a different rating according to their designation; for example the 50-storey pawn-shaped hotels would have offered 3 to 4-star class accommodation; rooks, knights and bishops would be 60-storey 5-star hotels, while the four super-luxury hotels representing kings and queens would tower 70 storeys high. The complex would also house the headquarters of the International Chess Association.

However, with property prices dropping by 50 per cent last year, this ambitious scheme has been put on hold indefinitely.

The Hydropolis

Resembling something from Waterworld, the Hydropolis Underwater Hotel was planned to be the world's first underwater luxury resort. Even before the debt crisis, the project had had a tumultuous development with it being cancelled several time. Initially designed to be made by 2006, it was said to be finished by the end of 2010 until time was finally called on the project.

As one would expect, the hotel faced several problems during its conception including design issues and 'rough seas'. The main problem had been finding a suitable location for the hotel with fears that if placed incorrectly, the massive structure would affect the tides and sea levels off Dubai, rendering vast areas of coast uninhabitable due to flooding, unpredictable wave and tide patterns and the high possibility of whale beachings.

Rumoured to cost just under $500 million, the hotel would have been approximately the size of London's Hyde Park and consisted of three sections; the land station, where guests would be welcomed; the connecting tunnel, which would transport people by train to the main area of the hotel; and the 220 suites within the submarine leisure complex.

The developers had described their scheme as a "10 star hotel" and had tentatively priced rooms at a crazy $5,000 per night.

The Dancing Towers/Signature Towers

Planned for Dubai's Business Bay and to be completed by Dubai Properties, the Dancing Towers were the idea of Iraqi-born Zaha Hadid.

A unique concept, the Dancing Towers were to features a ‘choreographed' fluidity that combined three towers in one overall gesture.

At the time of the plans unveiling, Dubai Properties CEO Hashim Al Dabi said, "Zaha Hadid's design for the Dancing Towers confirms Business Bay's role as a project that reflects Dubai's rapidly changing future."

Connecting the commercial, residential and hospitality sections of Business Bay, the three towers would have shared a common base, or podium, that would have featured retail, restaurants and related amenities.

On level 65 of the hotel, it was planned for the three towers to meet and share a panoramic restaurant offering spectacular views of Dubai Creek, Business Bay, Burj Dubai Downtown, and the Arabian Gulf beyond.

Unfortunately, like so many other projects this multi-billion dollar scheme was cancelled.

Once a playground for architects all over the world, Dubai is now having to tighten its budgets, forcing architects to turn their attention to more grounded projects, such as schools and hospitals. Whether Dubai will return to its innovative, albeit reckless spending, ways remains to be seen.

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