Driving Home

Luxury car brands and developers are merging the worlds of automotive and architecture.

The night sky lit up as some 20,000 people watched a plethora of brightly lit drones hover above Dubai’s Meydan Racecourse, forming the exterior of the futuristic Mercedes-Benz Vision One-Eleven car, with its One-Bow design inspired by the Mercedes-Benz Gullwing.

Guests had first been introduced to the Vision One-Eleven earlier that evening when Britta Seeger of Mercedes-Benz drove Muhammad BinGhatti, chief executive and architect of Binghatti Developers, onto the stage in the futuristic car, then stylishly exited the very low vehicle. It’s not an easy task, and BinGhatti had to practise ahead of time.

However, the event wasn’t about the car. Guests had come to Dubai from far and wide to celebrate the launch of the new Mercedes-Benz Places Binghatti residential hyper-tower project – a collaboration between Mercedes-Benz motoring company and Dubai-based developers Binghatti Properties. Guided primarily by the Mercedes-Benz core philosophy of ‘sensual purity’, the project is due for completion in 2026.

The 341m-tall freehold hyper-tower will have 65 floors and will aim to deliver a holistic, connected and desirable luxury living experience, with 150 residential units that start at $2.7 million, with some units costing up to $10 million each.

A carefully balanced selection of two- to four-bedroom apartments and five penthouses varying in size will be named after Mercedes-Benz iconic car models: One and Only, Vision One-Eleven, Gullwing, Vision EQ Silver Arrow and, lastly, the crown jewel, named after the most expensive car in the world sold at an auction recently for $140 million, the Uhlenhaut Coupé. Interior materials will include natural stone, walnut veneer, fluted travertine and satin chrome finishings.

“A brand such as Mercedes-Benz that is around 100 years old, it doesn’t venture outside of its respected industries,” said BinGhatti. “Its focus is on the automotive and it’s not easy to get it to work outside its field,” he says. ”It’s been humbling to work with them.”

Mercedes-Benz Places Binghatti will be characterised by its distinctive elliptical exterior, resembling the flowing lines on several ultra-modern Mercedes-Benz cars.

In addition to the high-end services that will be offered, equally important is the concept of the technology and the sustainable side of the narrative. Mercedes-Benz Places is seeking to differentiate itself by homing in on the sustainability initiatives embodying the values of both collaborating partners. The project has been strategically aligned with the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030, which aspires to achieve a reduction of 600,000kg of carbon emissions a year.

This, united with Mercedes-Benz’s Ambition 2039 to become entirely CO2 neutral, unfolds most prominently across the rear elevation, entirely integrated with panels spanning an area of 75,000 square feet. This feature, artfully punctuated by a repeated pattern composed of Mercedes-Benz’s classic three-pointed star logo, will generate energy to charge up to 40 electric vehicles on site per day, translating to an aggregate of 20,000km of carbon-free trips.

Meanwhile, in Miami’s pristine Sunny Isles Beach, British luxury car maker Bentley is developing The Bentley Residences tower, set to open in 2026. It will stand at 749ft, making it one of the tallest US oceanfront buildings. 

Spanning over 60 storeys, the tower will boast 216 residential apartments, with prices starting at £3.1 million ($4.2 million). Each apartment will have their own private heated swimming pool and full kitchen. 

The main entrance will be on Collins Avenue, where a cavernous lobby with floor-to-ceiling windows will frame stunning views across the ocean. 

On the ground floor, residents will have access to a restaurant, a mezzanine bar, a pool deck, a spa and fitness terrace, a hair and nail salon, a kids’ room, a games room with a racing car (with Bentley seats) and golf simulator, a cinema, and a dog spa. 

For those who don’t or won’t cook, food can be brought up for in-residence dining from the exclusive Bentley Residences resident-only restaurant located at the lobby level, where celebrity chef and restaurateur Todd English is in charge.

The three main players in this project are Bentley, Dezer Development and Sieger Suarez Architects (designers). Dezer Development was founded in 1970 by Michael Dezer. Today, the company is in the hands of his son, Gil Dezer. Sieger Suarez Architects has designed many of the most prestigious and successful luxury projects in South Florida and often works on Dezer projects. 

It was Gil Dezer who first approached Bentley, after a successful association with the Porsche group. Dezer wanted to establish another ‘name’ to collaborate with, and Bentley is what he wanted to have on the building. 

The Bentley residence will offer a 21st century take on parking. Each of the four lifts features a hydraulic system that travels at 800ft per minute. With the driver and passengers still in the car, specialised radio frequency identification (RFID) tags automatically load each car onto the elevator and transport it directly to their private floor, exit and park in a space dedicated to that car. The number of parking spaces varies on the size of the apartment purchased. Visitors arriving in their own cars can drive up a ramp located under the tower to the valet parking service and travel in the human elevator. 

“We are doing a lot of ‘firsts’, things never done before,” says Dezer. “We literally took the house concept and put it in the sky. You can walk a few steps from your apartment to your car and go out, then return to your garage in the sky,” he adds.    

The automotive parking technology has been around for a while, but Dezer adapted it to have all the necessary safety features so that passengers can stay inside the vehicle for the ride up and down.  

“We first came up with the concept because we wanted a ‘cool’ factor. Then our main market here of South Americans liked the safety and security of our ‘Dezervator’. We realised there is a group of celebrities and hermits who just don’t want to see anybody,” says Dezer. 

So, how do you put cars, that are full of gas, in the middle of a building? “The Dezervator and parking area is in a fire-rated box. The car could explode and catch fire and you could stand on the other side of the glass and watch; the whole glass is fire-rated,” says Dezer.   

Dividing one’s garage from the rest of the residence are huge glass windows with views through the kitchen and lounge, and off the balcony to the ocean. The oversized balconies come with a swimming pool and an outdoor living space. However, it can become extremely windy in Miami. But they’ve thought of that, too.

“We added an additional layer of glass to the building, so the balconies have three sides of fixed glass,” says Dezer. “It gets so windy here in Miami and a balcony becomes useless. We designed the balconies so they are not affected.”

Mercedes-Benz Places: dubai.mercedesbenzplaces.com

bentleyresidencesmiami.com