Earlier this year, Giorgio Armani unveiled his first-ever hotel, the Armani Hotel Dubai, ensconced in the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. To entice prospective visitors with the luxury hotel’s “minimalist elegance” and “sophisticated beauty”—two descriptions from the website that, as you will soon see, are not embellished—creative director Alex Brunori at MRM Worldwide in Milan commissioned our own John Offenbach to photograph the Armani. In fact, John’s are the first photos of the chic site. Let’s take a look…
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Photo by John Offenbach.
Photo by John Offenbach.
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“The Armani Hotel is the flagship hotel for Armani Hotels & Resorts,” John explains. “It occupies part of the world’s tallest building in Dubai, the Burj Khalifa. Needless to say, it is very impressive. There is hardly any paint! It is mostly silk-covered paneled walls everywhere you go. All in Armani colors. It was quite a technical challenge to photograph taupe, beige, olive and grays—very subtle colors, all in mixed lighting conditions. Although Mr Armani was not on the shoot, his presence was felt. He personally reviewed selected shots every night which we emailed to him and waited for his comments in the morning.”
For more of John’s architectural photography, see “Red all about it: John Offenbach photographs Jean Nouvel’s monochromatic Serpentine Pavilion.”
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The Burj Khalifa. Photo by John Offenbach.
The business center at the Armani Hotel Dubai. Photo by John Offenbach.
The hotel's ballroom. Photo by John Offenbach.
“The main lobby is about three stories high and contains a sculpture which is a representation of a desert rose,” says John.
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