Burj Al Arab

Dubai's sail-shaped luxury hotel on its own artificial island/Modern Buildings

The Burj Al Arab in Dubai stands 321 meters tall and is built on an artificial island 280 meters offshore. Designed to resemble the sail of a dhow, a traditional Arabian vessel, it was the world's tallest hotel when completed in 1999. The building contains 111,000 square meters of floor space across 56 floors, including a helipad on the 56th floor that has been repurposed for everything from tennis matches to golf drives. It styles itself as the world's only 7-star hotel, a rating that does not officially exist but somehow still feels accurate.