The Apeiron island hotel

Designer: Sybarite
Status: Concept
Estimated project cost: $500million

The ‘Apeiron’ island hotel is a seven star resort with a total floor area of 200,000m�. It is 185-m high and boasts of over 350 luxury apartment suites. The hi-tech futuristic hotel screams of luxury and comfort with its own private lagoon, beaches, restaurants, cinemas, retail shopping, art gallery, spas and conference facilities. Its out of the world design is magnetic enough to deliver a spell-bounded experience to visitors. (Photo Credit: Sybarite)

The hotel Burj al-Arab

Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Designer: Tom Wright (WS Atkins PLC), Khuan Chew
Status: Complete
Estimated project cost: $650 million
Cost per person: $1,000 to over $28,000 per night, $75 to have a glimpse from inside

Considered, unofficially, the world’s first and only 7-star hotel, the Burj al-Arab is a truly the most luxurious hotel imaginable and hence we couldn’t help including it in this list of futuristic hotels, which also perhaps triggered architects around the world to look beyond the fence.

The tallest, 321-metres (1,053 ft), hotel, designed as a sail of a dhow, is constructed on an artificial island 280-metres (919 ft) out from Jumeirah beach. The hotel boasts of the world’s tallest atrium, which is 180-meters (590 feet) tall.

The suspended helipad on the top adds to the grandeur of the hotel. The lavish interior skillfully mingles the best of design ethics from both the east and the west. The 8,000 square meters of 22-carat gold leaf and 24,000 square meters of 30 different types of marbles give the hotel an enigmatic touch.

The Poseidon Undersea Resort

Location: Fiji, The Poseidon Mystery Island
Designer: Bruce Jones
Status: Under construction, will be completed by September 2008
Estimated project cost: $105 million
Cost per person: $15,000 per week
Our pursuit of unique spaces now goes straight 1,200-square feet under the sea in the lap of Poseidon undersea resort. The world’s first underwater resort will be ready by the end of next year with breathtaking coral reefs where you can literally immerse yourself.

The Hydropolis: A self-acclaimed 10-star underwater hotel

Location: Dubai
Designer: Joachim Hauser, Crescent Hydropolis Resorts
Estimated project cost: $500-million
The Hydropolis Undersea Resort, especially designed keeping in mind that we’re around 60% water, endeavors to deliver the serene beauty of the ocean in its true colors. The one of its kind resort will encompass a whopping 1.1-million-square-foot of area offering shopping mall, ballroom, island villas, restaurant, high-tech cinema and surprisingly, a missile-defense system for your security 60-feet underwater.

Tourists can enjoy their stay in 220 theme suites within the submarine leisure complex. It is one of the largest contemporary construction projects in the world, covering an area of 260 hectares, about the size of London’s Hyde Park.

The resort is designed with a petal-like retracting roof to organize open-sky events.

Aeroscraft: The flying luxury hotel of tomorrow

Designer: Igor Pasternak (Worldwide Aeros Corporation), Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo (WATG)
Status: Prototype under development
The ‘Aeroscraft’ is a gigantic 400-ton blimp designed to carry passengers in its spacious luxury cosmos onboard. The flying hotel with an area equal to two football fields hangs in air with 14 million cubic feet of helium, huge electric and hydrogen fuel cell powered propellers and six turbofan jet engines. The hotel can accommodate 250 passengers driving them at a speed of 174 miles per hour up to 6, 000 miles.

Flying 8,000 feet above in the air, the 165×244x647 feet airship will provide tourists hi-tech amenities including casino, restaurants and staterooms.

Designer Igor Pasternak has also plans to float a cargo-carrying version too once the project takes off. (Photo Credit: WATG)