Opus By Zaha Hadid

Opus by Zaha Hadid sits on the Business Bay waterfront in Dubai, developed by Omniyat and completed in October 2017. It is a mixed-use tower containing 20 fully furnished residences, designed in their entirety by Zaha Hadid Architects, alongside hotel accommodation and a curated set of food and beverage operations.

# The tower and its position in Business Bay

The building's form is immediately legible from a distance: two glass volumes connected by a dramatic cubic void, the central absence becoming the visual signature rather than the mass around it. Zaha Hadid Architects produced this as one of the practice's few built projects in the Gulf, and the structure reads as architectural sculpture as much as commercial real estate. Business Bay, the district it occupies, has matured considerably since the tower's completion, with the Dubai Water Canal corridor adding a linear public amenity that runs alongside the broader neighbourhood.

The building stands alone in its typology within the district. Nothing adjacent competes with it formally, which makes its positioning on the skyline unusually stable.

# Residences: layouts, scale and interior specification

The development holds 20 residences across one-, two- and four-bedroom configurations. One-bedroom units range broadly from 887 sq ft to 1,178 sq ft, with pricing on available stock sitting between approximately AED 4.17 million and AED 5.63 million. Two-bedroom residences run from 2,219 sq ft to 2,661 sq ft, priced from roughly AED 10.87 million to AED 12.51 million.

At the upper end, a single four-bedroom residence of 12,788 sq ft carries an asking price of AED 150 million, placing it among the most expensive discrete residential offerings in Dubai.

All residences are delivered fully furnished. The interiors follow Hadid's characteristic formal language: curved geometries, integrated furniture that reads as continuous with the architecture, and a material palette that prioritises spatial coherence over decorative layering. Kitchens are fully equipped with premium appliances. Service charges run at AED 34 per sq ft annually, which reflects the operational complexity of a building that functions simultaneously as hotel and private residence.

# Amenities within the building

The facilities list is selective rather than exhaustive, which suits the scale of 20 units.

Residents share access with the hotel operation, including an outdoor swimming pool, spa facilities, and a fully equipped gym. The lobby operates as a dual-access point for both the residential and hotel portions of the building, with 24-hour concierge cover throughout. Fine dining restaurants and lounges occupy the lower levels, meaning residents have food and beverage options on-site without leaving the building. Basement parking is included.

# Business Bay's connectivity and surrounding draw

The Burj Khalifa sits 2.8 km away, reachable in approximately seven minutes by car. Dubai Mall is a nine-minute drive at 5 km. Dubai International Airport's Terminal 3 is 16.4 km out, typically a 17-minute journey, which matters to buyers who travel frequently between Dubai and European or Asian cities.

Safa Park, at 5.5 km, provides the nearest significant green space. Mercato Beach on Jumeirah's first stretch is 6.2 km away, roughly 15 minutes by road. These distances confirm Business Bay's central position: close enough to leisure and retail infrastructure to make day-to-day living practical, without sitting inside the more congested tourist corridors of Downtown.

# Who buys here, and why the market supports it

Opus occupies a category that has very few direct comparisons in Dubai: a completed building where the architecture itself is the asset. Buyers are typically those for whom a conventional luxury apartment, however well finished, is insufficient as a statement of ownership. The Hadid provenance is not incidental; it is the primary driver of value perception and, in a resale context, the main source of pricing insulation.

For international buyers holding sterling, euros or Asian currencies, the AED's peg to the dollar provides the currency stability that many comparable markets in London or Hong Kong cannot currently offer. The entry point for a one-bedroom unit, at around AED 4.17 million (approximately £900,000 at prevailing rates), is within range for buyers who might otherwise consider a prime central London flat, and the comparison on space, specification and architectural distinction is favourable to Dubai.

With only 20 residences, liquidity is structurally limited, which cuts both ways. Turnover is low, and available stock at any given moment is scarce. For a buyer who intends to hold, that scarcity is the point.