Introducing ‘Ome’ – A Floating Villa

How does a luxury island owner get to their new ocean getaway off the coast of Dubai? In an ‘Ome’ of course – a floating villa designed to drift back and forth between the mainland and The World islands … once they are complete, that is.

In a creative venture reminiscent of Dubai’s boom times, when underwater hotels and man-shaped buildings were all in the pipeline, the Ome will have  an upper and lower deck and 1,400sqm of living space, including five bedrooms and a 10m swimming pool.

And one of the men behind the lavish mode of transport says there is already some interest in the futuristic floating homes, but declined to reveal any further details or confirm how much a dream Ome would cost you.

“It may be people who are super yacht enthusiasts looking for something different or someone with a more recreational boating  approach,” Graham Henderson of Palmerstone said.

Floating super villas are a ‘positive sign’

The Omes will be self-sustainable, with photovoltaic cells on the roof generating an estimated 30,000kw of energy – enough to run six homes.

Henderson expects production to start by the middle of next year, although the design is yet to be approved by Nakheel, developer of The World.

The project could be seen as a return to Dubai’s days of wild ambition. And Tudor Allin-Khan, chief economist at Alembic HC, said that can only be a positive sign for the economy.

“This is positive for the UAE. But we need to see what kind of investment and job creation it leads to,” he said.

“This just shows there are ideas, investors and business still at work. Whereas previously things may have been on hold, now ideas and plans are coming off the shelf.”

Earlier this year Nakheel reported about 70 per cent of the 300 artificial islands had been sold, although construction work had only started on two developments.

The Ome has been designed by Atoll Floating Islands, a Dubai-based joint venture between Palmerstone and Donald Starkey Designs – a specialist in super-yachts.