US$1 billion Dubai skyscrapers to be linked by daring rooftop pool

Designed by British architect Norman Foster's firm, Foster + Partners, the project will soar above Dubai's Marasi Marina. (Foster + Partners via CNN Newsource)

Two new 591-foot-tall skyscrapers, linked across the top by a daring “sky pool,” are set to rise above Dubai’s Marasi Marina.

But the soaring 43-foot infinity pool will not be accessible to the public, or even to most of the luxury towers’ residents — it’s part of what its architects describe as an exclusive “ultra-penthouse.”

Comprising 63 luxury residences, the new Regent Residences Dubai will be worth an estimated US$1 billion upon its completion in 2027. The 35,000-square-foot penthouse features six bedrooms, a gym and a private elevator.

The project’s other apartments, which all measure upwards of 6,500 square feet, will each occupy an entire floor. They were orientated to offer views of the marina and the nearby Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

And residents need not worry about missing out on the “sky pool”: All the apartments contain their own private swimming terraces (and access to another 82-foot indoor lap pool).

A series of newly released renderings show the staggered pool terraces jutting out from the two towers’ facades. The design was “inspired by cascading water,” according to Foster + Partners, the architecture firm behind the project.

Real estate company Sankari (which developed the project alongside IHG Hotels & Resorts) declined to disclose to CNN how much the “ultra-penthouse” will cost, though the other residences start at $10 million each. Advertised as the “jewel in Dubai’s crown,” the luxury development also features 10 floating homes dubbed “water villas.”

Residents will enjoy access to tennis and padel courts, outdoor lounges, a private cinema and virtual golf simulator, among much else. The podium at the base of the towers will meanwhile feature open green spaces, restaurants and retail space.

The project is part of a major overhaul of the waterfront Marasi Marina neighbourhood in Business Bay, a new high-rise development on the Dubai Creek, south of the city’s downtown area. It is Regent Residences’ first property in the Middle East.

The two towers are not identical though they share “same design language,” according to Foster + Partners. In a press statement, the firm’s studio head Gerard Evenden said the project’s “dynamic twisting form and articulated facade” will make it “a distinctive new addition” to Dubai.

Foster + Partners, which was founded by the celebrated architect — and winner of the Pritzker Prize, the profession’s equivalent to a Nobel — Norman Foster, has designed numerous other high-profile buildings in the United Arab Emirates in recent years. Among them are an 80-story Dubai skyscraper, called The Index, and the House of Wisdom, a library and culture center in Sharjah. The firm’s sculptural Zayed National Museum, which will serve as the centerpiece of Abu Dhabi’s new Saadiyat Island Cultural District, is due to open later this year.

It is not the first time a swimming pool has been suspended between buildings: London’s see-through Sky Pool, built across the 10th stories of two residential towers, opened in the British capital’s Nine Elms neighbourhood in 2021.