In skyscraper-crazy Dubai, tall isn't enough. In a design to be unveiled today in the oil-rich emirate, David Fisher, an Italian-Israeli architect, has dreamed up a 68-story combination hotel, apartment and office tower where the floors would rotate 360 degrees. Each floor would rotate independently, creating a constantly changing architectural form.

Each story of the tower would be shaped like a doughnut and be attached to a center core housing elevators, emergency stairs and other utilities. Wind turbines placed in gaps between the doughnuts would generate electricity.

The doughnuts won't rotate fast enough to give guests upset stomachs. A single rotation would take around 90 minutes. "It's quite slow," says Mr. Fisher.

In a project to be unveiled today, architect David Fisher has dreamed up a 68-story tower where each floor will rotate, causing the building's shape to constantly change.

Mr. Fisher's isn't the first plan for a rotating tower in Dubai. Last year, a local developer showed off plans for a 30-story 200-unit condominium tower that would rotate one revolution per day. Solar panels would drive the rotation mechanism.

Dubai has become a playpen for architects, where the deep pockets of oil-rich developers drive some of the most eccentric building projects in the world. There is an artificial archipelago shaped like a map of the world and an underwater luxury hotel. There is also an indoor ski slope, a sail-shaped hotel and a fake chain of islands in the form of a palm frond dotted with homes.

Dubai's building spree is powered by massive government investment and money pouring in from individual investors from around the Middle East, especially people looking to park their oil wealth in real estate.

The country's ruling family, led by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, realizes its oil will someday run out and wants to create a viable financial foundation for future generations by creating a commercial and recreational capital for the Middle East.



"The ruler of Dubai, he encourages us to grab the things that are super and unique in the world," says Mohammed Jardali, general director of Mejren Cos., the lead developer. "That's why we are going after the thing that will be a landmark and unique in the world."

The developer is a group including Sheikh Mejren bin Sultan's Mejren Group, Kriston Co., a developer based in Athens, and Gowealthy, a Dubai real estate marketing company. "We call it dynamic architecture," says Mr. Fisher, who says it will rise for a mere $330 million and will make an outsized profit to boot. "It can be sold for at least 40% premium because it will be an iconic building -- a landmark," he says. Mr. Fisher predicts construction will start in six months and be complete 22 months after that.

The architect of the other tower, James Abbott of Hong Kong-based P&T Group, confirms that his tower will rotate just once a week. "We are doing it for just purely functional reasons, not gimmicky," he says. "The idea is for people to have 360-degree views." He says he and the developer, Dubai Property Ring, will submit final applications to local authorities in the next two weeks.

The proposed spinning towers follow a quiet campaign to build the tallest building in the world again in Dubai. Code-named "The Burj," or simply the Tower, the 240-story, one-kilometer-tall (3,281 feet) spire would beat out the currently under-construction Burj Dubai, which is slated to hit around 2,300 feet when complete in 2009. The taller Burj would be built by Nakheel Properties in Dubai. A spokesman declined to comment other than saying it is planning a "large tower."

The Burj Dubai, designed by Chicago architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for Emaar Properties, will be a hotel and condominium and is expected to reach more than 1,000 feet taller than New York's Empire State Building. The current tallest building in the world is Taipei 101 in Taiwan. It reaches 1,671 feet.