Princess Tower

«Dubai needs a residential record-holder, not just a mixed-use one like Burj Khalifa.»

— TAMEER HOLDINGS · 2006 PRESS BRIEFING

In 2005, Tameer Holdings — one of Dubai's fast-growing developers at the time — acquired a Dubai Marina plot for a 100+ storey residential project. The brief was ambitious: at the time, no purely residential building in the world stood taller than 380 metres. All height record-holders were mixed-use, combining offices, hotels and residences under one roof. Tameer wanted a 'pure residential' record-holder. Engineer Adnan Saffarini Office was engaged — a Dubai engineering-architectural studio that had by then designed over 30 high-rises in the UAE.

Adnan Saffarini produced a classic art-deco design: pyramidal multi-tiered crown, vertical fluting along the entire height, stepped setbacks. The stylistic reference is unmistakable — Empire State Building re-rendered in contemporary materials. Height: exactly 414 metres, 101 storeys. Inside: 763 apartments — from compact 1-bedroom layouts of 75 m² to 800 m² penthouses with private lifts.

Structurally — a bundled tube system (like Sears Tower in Chicago): multiple vertical tubes work as a bundle, enabling extreme height with purely residential use (without requiring a large commercial core).

Construction began in Q1 2006, with handover initially planned for 2009. The original aim — to be the world's first 100+ floor residential building. The 2008 financial crisis hit Tameer particularly hard: delayed payments to contractors, multi-month stops. By 2010 the project was still under construction. Final handover took place in July 2012 — roughly three years behind the original schedule.