The Municipality of Dubai has confirmed that construction of a mixed-use complex Aladdin City will begin next year, Emirates 24|7 reports.
Renderings that have circulated online show bulbous, glass towers in the Dubai Creek area, off the shore of the Persian Gulf. The towers are covered in gold lattice and are connected to each other air-conditioned bridges.
What the developers aim to do with the project is evoke the semi-mythical urban landscape found in the popular Arab folklores of Aladdin, Sinbad, and Ali Baba.
“[We want] to develop towers to be the icons of legends of the past—It comes in the prime location of Dubai Creek, maintaining the activities of the port heritage,” Director-General Hussain Nasser Lootah announced in a statement.
For some time, the UAE has been pushing the site to become a UNESCO Wolrd Heritage site.
According to Entrepreneur, the whole complex will be 4,000 acres, and the tallest tower will be 34 stories.
The project was first announced in April 2014. The costs are yet to be announced.