Dubai

The Pad is a 26 storey tall residential building located in Business Bay, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Pad’s architecture is inspired by the Apple iPod, and scales up the form of an iPod to a building scale. The architecture is designed by James Law of James Law Cybertecture from Hong Kong winning out from a competition against Foster & Partners, and Zaha Hadid Architects. The building has been designed to be a new type of architecture which takes on board the technological advances available currently to allow inhabitants to programs their own software for their building. This philosophy to this new architecture is called Cybertecture. The Pad has 256 apartments ranging from studio apartments, 1 bedroom apartments, 1 bedroom duplexes. to 3 bedroom duplexes over looking the Dubai canal. Its structure is inclined at 6.5 degrees as a leaning tower as a design reference to the original iPod device leaning when standing in its charging dock. Inside the building, the interiors have a range of technologies including biometric locks, mood lighting, voice control and mirrors that can monitor your health. The Pad is the first example of a Cybertecture building that uses architecture and technology to give a wide range of living possibilities for the inhabitants. Construction began in 2007, but was suspended during the economic tsunami of 2009. It was restarted in 2013, and due for completion in 2018.