Abu Dhabi hotels collection

Raised from the seabed, the coral stone of Qasr al-Hosn first went into a watchtower guarding a freshwater well, a rare thing on the island; a lime render flecked with crushed shell kept it white. The city grew outward from there. On Saadiyat, the dome of the Louvre, woven of metal stars, lets a dappled light fall on the galleries, as palm fronds do over a date grove in the desert. On the eastern side, the grey mangroves tolerate a salt that would kill other trees. At low tide, the mud around each one bristles with roots pointing skywards, through which they breathe.