Pictures of the Day: This is what a 7-star looks like!

Posted on September 4, 2006
Filed Under >Adil Najam, Architecture, Economy & Development, Travel
88 Comments
Total Views: 66873

Adil Najam

For all of those, me included, who wondered what a 7-star hotel looks like; this is it.

To find out what it feels like, you will have to wait an indefinite amount of time until this surreal StarTrek-like structure actually comes about in Islamabad. Will it? And if it does will it really look like this!

This would have made a great photo-quiz had written about the hotel a few days ago, had Asma not already posted the URLs to these pictures as a comment on that post, and had these pictures not been flying around in all sorts of emails from Pakistan. Despite all of the above, I thought they would still make a great post; maybe some of the koolness will rub off on the site. And I am sure the builders could do with some more free publicity.

Plus, as regular readers know, I have a thing for pictures with tullas (cops) in them (see here, here and here). And this one – even though imaginary – has that traffic cop perched right in the foreground. By the way, don’t miss the helicopter hovering above (near the helipad) either!


Your Ad Here

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’?What do you think?

88 responses to “Pictures of the Day: This is what a 7-star looks like!”

  1. Shahid says:

    Is just my mind working overtime or is it…. ALLAH in Arabic Script?

  2. me says:

    Mr. Zeeshan u mite want to check their site again and re-confirm that it will be a 7 star InshahAllah, as for all those who think it doesnt fit into islamabad might want to look at the rest of the world and c where their going. I think its about time pakistan saw some change. A positive change for once.

  3. its not 7 star its only 5 star, they 7 star hotel title was refused to give it cuz its in pakistan, u can check their website for details

  4. Dear Dakter…

    You’ve rightly pointed out that Lahore is into red brick.
    But still… we know there are several structures in Lahore that are not red brick and still quite Lahore-like.

    Frankly I was quite unimpressed with Guggenheim – it never struck me in all my years in New York City.

  5. Dakter says:

    Yasser, the problem with ‘transplanting’ a structure is exactly what the problem is with this. It will be a transplant, and out of place. But I think the direction you are taking this is a good one. So, what type of structures might fit? I immediately think of the Frank Lloyd Wright style (The Gugenhiem he designed for example). Straight lines, framing the hills, grand but not high rise. That seems to be more in line with Islamabad’s sensibility (even this building without the ‘pointy’ thing would be so much more elegant. Again, this is one person’s opinion, that is all it can be.

    P.S. Lahore, I think, has developed a new ‘red brick style’ recently, which is very organicc, very Lahore, and still modern.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*