Sheikh Rashid’s audacious vision for Dubai surviving past the oil boom has seen the tiny city-state undergo a miraculous transformation in the past forty years. Propagated by an economic shift towards tourism, shipping, mass communications and finance, Dubai has become an oasis of political and religious moderation, blooming in the somewhat scary Middle East.

A quarter of the world’s top 500 companies - drawn by free trade, stability and the embryonic knowledge-based economy, world-class tourist attractions, and a real estate market fuelled by excess demand has seen Dubai metamorphose from a barren desert to a sprawling megalopolis characterised by new superlatives of architectural gigantism, vulgarian excess and conspicuous consumption. All this in under ten years.

The scale and pace of development is incredible, with an estimated $45 billion of construction projects underway at present; all geared towards putting Dubai on the tourist and commercial map. The endless supply of private investment and the totally blank canvas of the desert emirate has left only the two most fundamental barriers to construction: the human imagination and Newtonian physics (and the rest of the planet wanting its cranes back).

When I met with a real estate agent from Dubai near the London Eye this week, I told them planning had started to build an observation wheel in the gulf state that is four times the radius, with each pod spinning in a magnetic field, and the option to stop at the top to take the world’s longest flume to the bottom. This provoked only the question “Where are they building it?”

That said, real examples of this inherent blend of lunacy and logic are not in short supply: “Dubailand”, a colossal three billion square foot complex of theme parks, shopping and sporting facilities; Hydropolis, the world’s first underwater hotel; the Burj Dubai which will be an astonishing 800 metres tall (40% taller than the Taipei 101, the current tallest building in the world) and the Dubai mall, which will cover nine million square feet with over a thousand shops. In the residential sector, one project that will realise the luxury brand values and bewildering ambition of Dubai Inc like no other: The Pentominium.

With 120 floors and a height of 516 metres, slicing through the sky like an enormous shimmering rapier, the residential-only Pentominium, designed by the renowned architect Andrew Bromberg at Aedas, will not only dwarf every other development on the Dubai Marina, but almost every building currently on planet earth.

The developer, Trident International Holdings, who already have an enviable reputation in Dubai for creating innovative, luxury residential properties in superb waterfront locations are hailing the Pentominium as the “Defined height in luxury” and a world’s first; and for once this is holds more substance than the usual over-eager, marketing rhetoric.

Each floor will contain only one lavishly appointed 6500 square foot residence, hence the name “Pentominium”: a combination of penthouse style luxury within a condominium. This unique layout will give each property a stunning view across the skyline, marina and the Palm Island. The developers are so excited by the concept that they have not only protected the name as their intellectual property, but have also (unsuccessfully I might add) attempted to gain it entry to the Oxford English Dictionary. I doubt they will do the same with the Arabic dictionary; with the letter “p” absent from the alphabet, and substituted by a “b”, Bentominium: a combined benthouse and condominium is slightly less flattering.

What is actually exciting and innovative about the development is not its awesome scale and configuration, but the involvement, for the first time in a residential proposition, of world-class alliance partners. Crucially, by putting their name to the project, these partners have smeared the development with an old-school credibility so often lacking amongst Dubai’s potpourri of gaudy, theatrical extravagance.

The residents of the Pentominium will have access to their own Six Senses spa, a Davidoff cigar lounge, a fleet of Rolls Royce Phantoms, the usage of shared ownership Azimut Yachts, and a concierge service provided by Quintessentially, but it doesn’t end there. The interiors are to be crystallized by Swarovski, and even the business centre gets in on the act, with accessories supplied by Tiffany.

It should come as no great surprise that the project was well received at its MIPIM unveiling earlier this year, and you’ll have to hurry if you want one. Eighty percent have been sold already.