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The city of Dubai in United Arab Emirates comes to the limelight for many of its structures. One such structure is the luxury hotel Burj Al Arab which is also known to be the fourth tallest hotel of the world. A dispute revolves around the sail shaped hotel as per which it is known to be the only 7 star hotel in the world.

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Though the total height of the Burj Al Arab is 321 metres but 39% of the entire building is made in a non-occupiable manner. It stands on an artificially made island of 280 m which is separated from the Jumeirah beach and is in turn connected to the rest of the land with the help of a curved private bridge. This standout design for the Burj Al Arab was done by Tom Wright of Atkins and the construction was supervised by Rick Gregory of Atkins again.

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The construction of the Burj Al Arab took place between 1994 and 1999. The design of the hotel was based on a dhow which is an Arabian vessel. The designer created the idea on the basis that the building symbolises the place as the Big Ben does for London and the Opera House for Sydney. He wanted that the building should stand as an ambassador for the city and the country, respectively.

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The construction of the hotel involved a number of architectural complicacies such as the foundation which was required to sustain it on the artificial island. For this purpose approximately 230 piles of 40 metres each were put on the sand so as to create a solid foundation for such an enormous structure to rest. The process of reclaiming the land from the sea almost took 3 years which was same as the amount of time taken for the construction of the entire Burj Al Arab. The entire amount of concrete and steel used by the building is 70,000 cubic metre and 9,000 tonnes, respectively.

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Though the Burj Al Arab appears to be a massive structure but, the hotel has only 28 double storied floors which has 202 bedroom suites. The area covered by the smallest of the rooms is 169 sq metres and that by the biggest one is 780 sq metres.  The Royal suite of the Burj Al Arab costs US $18,776 per night and thus is known to be one amongst the 15 most expensive hotel accommodations. Data shows that the Burj Al Arab is more popular amongst the Chinese people who have made most of the bookings during the years 2011 and 2012.

Inside the Burj Al Arab are two restaurants one of which, Al Muntaha is located on top of the Persian Gulf and is known to be a cantilever restaurant which gives a panoramic view of the entire Dubai and the other one, Al Mahara takes a submarine trip to see the marine life beneath the sea. It has an aquarium which holds 990,000 litres of water. The brilliant structure of the Burj Al Arab exemplifies the financial splendour of the UAE.