The Opus: how a Zaha Hadid building became a price anchor in Business Bay

The Opus is a rare case of a building that works as an argument in itself. Amid the standard glass towers of Business Bay stands a perfect cube with a living form carved out of it. By day it reflects the Burj Khalifa and the city; by night the central void is lit by thousands of LEDs and appears to break the laws of physics.

What the building is

The architect was Zaha Hadid, the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize, architecture's highest honour. Her practice designed not only the exterior but also the interiors of the ME Dubai hotel inside: lobby, furniture and lighting all in the same fluid, futuristic idiom.

• Structurally it is two towers joined by a bridge at height, but visually a single volume.
• The façade is assembled from thousands of uniquely shaped panels — engineering work rather than standard glazing.
• Inside are the ME Dubai hotel, office space and residences.

For developer Omniyat the project was a manifesto: instead of another square metre, an object that entered architectural rankings and collected awards.

The economics of an architectural gesture

There is a concrete lesson here for investors. A complex façade of unique panels costs several times a standard one, and in terms of rent per square metre that money does not pay back directly. What pays back is the status of the address.

The mechanism runs like this: a recognisable building becomes a landmark, the landmark becomes address prestige, and prestige lifts the price of everything nearby. Hence a rule worth carrying into a purchase: an icon next door lifts the price of your ordinary building — one of the few situations where overpaying for location rather than for the asset itself makes sense.

Dubai applies this systematically. The Burj Khalifa made Downtown, Atlantis made the Palm, The Opus made its corner of Business Bay. Each time the anchor is built with more than its own returns in mind.

What a buyer in such a building should factor in

• Maintaining a complex façade costs more. Unique panels and non-standard geometry mean a higher service charge — the price of living inside a landmark.
• Liquidity is above average. A recognisable building always has a buyer who wants that specific address; in a falling market that is a real advantage.
• Mixed use cuts both ways. Hotel, offices and residences in one building give round-the-clock life and, simultaneously, a flow of strangers.

Based on architectural material on The Opus and developer Omniyat.