A twin-tower residential landmark for the Phillips Auction House in Dubai — two sculptural towers composed of stacked, cantilevered glass volumes that integrate curated contemporary art spaces with ultra-luxury beachfront living along the Arabian Gulf coastline.
Born from a collaboration between Asymptote Architecture and Phillips Auction House, the project poses a specific question: what would a residential tower look like if it were designed from the outset as a place to live among significant art collections? The answer takes the form of twin towers sited along the Arabian Gulf beachfront, where exhibition-quality lighting, climate-controlled storage, and generous display surfaces are embedded in the architecture rather than retrofitted into conventional floor plans.
Sculptural Massing & Tower Form
The towers are organized as a vertical sequence of cantilevered volumes, each rotated and offset from the one below to create a dynamic silhouette against the Dubai skyline. This stacking logic generates expansive sky terraces at each transition between volumes, introducing planted gardens and outdoor living areas at multiple elevations throughout the building. The resulting form reads less as a conventional tower and more as a vertical landscape — a procession of inhabited pavilions ascending from the beachfront. The facade system employs high-performance glazing that maximizes transparency and ocean views while managing solar gain across all orientations.
Art-Integrated Living
At the core of the project is the integration of contemporary art into every dimension of residential life. The ground-level reception and lobby function as a curated gallery space, with commissioned artworks displayed alongside sculptural furnishings within a double-height marble interior bearing the Phillips identity. Throughout the towers, dedicated private art storage facilities, exhibition-quality lighting systems, and climate-controlled display areas allow residents to live among significant collections. The architecture itself becomes a frame for art — generous wall surfaces, controlled natural light, and carefully proportioned interiors provide the spatial conditions for serious collecting.
Residences & Sky Suites
Individual residences are designed around full-height corner glazing systems that dissolve the boundary between interior and exterior, orienting living spaces toward panoramic views of the Arabian Gulf, the Palm Jumeirah, and the Dubai Marina skyline. Master suites capture the full spectrum of coastal light from sunrise to sunset. Upper-level sky suites feature private terraces with mature landscaping, outdoor dining areas, and infinity-edge details that extend the living environment into the open air. The material palette throughout favors warm natural stones, fine timber, and restrained metalwork — allowing the architecture and the views to remain primary.
Amenities & Shared Spaces
The towers incorporate a comprehensive program of shared amenities distributed across multiple levels. An elevated fitness center features a sculptural coffered ceiling and panoramic glazing with unobstructed views of the city skyline. Landscaped terraces at the tower base create sheltered outdoor zones for socializing beneath the cantilevered residential volumes above, framing sunset views across the Gulf. Additional amenities include private screening rooms, residents’ lounges, swimming pools, and dedicated concierge services — all designed to the same standard of material refinement found in the residences themselves.
Urban Presence & Coastal Context
Sited along a prominent coastal boulevard, the Philips Art Towers establish a new landmark on the Dubai beachfront. The twin-tower composition creates a distinctive gateway condition, visible from both the city approach and the sea. At street level, the buildings engage the public realm through landscaped setbacks and an activated ground plane that connects the residential program to the surrounding neighborhood. At night, the stacked glass volumes glow from within, transforming the towers into luminous markers along the coastline — a visible expression of the art and life contained within.
