benvenuti in paradiso

Dubai’s bottomless appetite for superlatives—biggest this, tallest this, best that—makes it an entirely appropriate venue for a significant first from Giorgio Armani. Last Tuesday night, the designer cut the ribbon on his first hotel. It takes up ten floors of the Burj Khalifa, at 2,717 feet the tallest building in the world. To make sense of a numeral like that, simply note that the offices of Mohamed Alabbar, chairman of Emaar Properties, the developer behind the numbingly massive Downtown Dubai project, are on the 158th floor. Vertiginists can still their cold sweat, however. The Armani Hotel—and the residences that make up the rest of the Armani real estate—are at the base of the building (although, on this scale, 39 floors feels down to earth). So, if you want to touch the 'heavens', you know where to venture to next.