Suddenly one finds oneself wandering through a mysterious cosmos full of gardens of light and rivers that unite infinity. Or undertaking a virtual flight aboard a ship over an immense solar field. Or sitting at the galactic table of a gastrotheater, waiting for an eight-act dinner in which the food is seasoned with artificial intelligence. Are we talking about a futuristic film? No, we're talking about the latest twist on Dubai's ingenuity (and excess).
Determined to lead the race for technological avant-garde, the most ambitious emirate has once again activated the springs of its megalomania. And he has done so with his already consolidated tendency to break all possible records. Here where everything multiplies, magnifies and sublimates, visionary plans could not be missing. The city of excess and eccentricity is now also the mecca of innovation.
The 2020 World Expo (which, due to the pandemic, had to be held in 2021) made it clear: Dubai is pointing towards the future, albeit in a sustainable way. Something reconfirmed by Alif and Terra, two of the pavilions that remained from that great fair, which today receive thousands of visitors: the focus is on mobility (including air taxis and the space race), but without losing sight of global warming and the impact of human beings on nature.
This intelligent, interactive and hyper-connected metropolis that Dubai wants to become has welcomed hotels that, with their philosophy and design, become icons of innovation. Like the NH Collection The Palm, on the already famous Palm Jumeirah, which has put all its attention on minimizing the impact on the environment (solar panels, ecological materials, vegan food options...). Or the recently opened Me by Meliá, designed by Zaha Hadid as an ice cube melting in the desert.
But it is the new architectural milestones that continue to demonstrate that we are facing the emirate of the most. In addition to The Frame (the largest photo frame in the world), the one known as Mohammed Bin Rashid Library stands out in recent times, a spectacular construction in the shape of an open book that not only houses more than a million printed and digital publications in different languages, but is also operated by robots that respond to queries and deliver the selected books.
Nothing like immersing yourself in the world of entertainment to see that fever to stay ahead of the times. This is evident in attractions such as AYA, a park that combines art and technology to provide the most vibrant interactive experience. In this authentic paranoia of lights and colors, travelers leave the real world behind to enter a universe in which they can float, dance with crazy avatars and generate puddles and storms with every step taken.
It is not the only space that is committed to visionary technology. A very interesting visit is the one that takes you to the bowels of the desert to discover the new Dewa Innovation Center. Here, in a crazy building designed according to the golden ratio and Islamic geometry, the future of clean energy is kept. Something that, for a country that aspires to be free of carbon footprint in the year 2050, is of vital importance.
Let no one think that this is a tedious lesson. Everything in this place is so well explained, illustrated and developed, that learning is delightful. Including the flight that is carried out in metaverse on more than five million panels, in which it is the most extensive solar field (you can imagine, of course) in the world. Suctioning? Become a global center of green economy. And the procedure? Anticipate the future of energy with the most innovative technology.
To see, precisely, how society will evolve in the coming decades, there is the brand new Museum of the Future, the only one in the world that has been created with 3D technology. A complete architectural virguería of steel and glass, which adopts the oval shape of an eye that represents humanity, with a central hole that symbolizes uncertainty. On its striking façade, tattooed with verses in Arabic calligraphy, you can read its declaration of intent: “The future belongs to those who can imagine it, design it and execute it.”
This living museum, recognized as one of the most beautiful in the world, is a trip to the year 2071. A gateway to the planet in five decades, when health, travel, ecology and even spirituality are divined through artificial intelligence and augmented reality. This is how the future life is recreated on each floor, all of them designed as interactive cinemas, animated by expert narrators. After such avant-garde embarrassment, you can go up to the viewpoint to get some air: that's when this building appears like a lost button under a forest of skyscrapers.
This is exactly Krasota. Among many other things, of course. Because this restaurant that challenges the norms of gastronomy to also encompass the field of visual arts, incorporate a theatrical structure and pass everything, well defined, through the blender of technology, is above all an unspeakable experience.
In Krasota, diners sit at a huge circular table and the function begins. Seven visually impressive acts that push the limits of imagination to project onto the stage (the walls, the ceiling, the plates themselves) 3D multimedia images that recreate the work of different artists.
But all this without forgetting that you come here to have dinner. For some reason, the creative menu has been devised by chef Vladmir Mukhin to harmonize the show with an accomplished cult of the palate. And boy does he get it. In this gastrotheater created with artificial intelligence, in this immersive dinner based on innovation, is (they say) the gastronomy of the future. We can't say it, but the truth is that it is delicious.
