This pretty much had to happen in Dubai. If a real estate scheme seems crazy or impractical, and will cost a lot of money but also garner scads of attention … Dubai is ready and willing.

The latest?

Underwater homes.

Which followed on …

… the underwater hotel.

We’ve all heard about real estate “under water”, especially over the recent economic downturn. But this is a literal concept. Not the “I owe more on the house than it is worse” situations some of us have encountered.

The literal concept is more fun.

First, the underwater homes.

As can be seen in the artist’s rendering, only one of three floors of the planned buildings will be underwater.

If it goes forward, it would happen in The World development, which is a group of islands shaped to look a bit like planet Earth. With more water. About 2.5 miles off the coast of Dubai.

These would be built in an area known as the “Heart of Europe”.

So, let’s cut to the chase. You like the idea of looking out your window and seeing fish gliding past … you like the idea of being on the other side of the glass, as opposed to an aquarium …

How much are these 1,700-square-foot villas going to set you back? About 5 million dirhams — which is about $1.35 million.

As one smart-aleck put it, “What could go wrong … as long as you don’t break a window?”

Ready by 2017. If all goes right.

Also knocking around is the idea for an underwater hotel.

This gallery of an artist’s notions of what it will look like is a bit fun. It hammers home the notion of the inside-out aquarium.

Also, I would doubt the setting will have coral all around it, because that would seem to suggest dropping the hotel into a coral bed, which pretty much can’t be done anywhere on the planet.

But it’s pretty to think.

And if it is going to happen anywhere … Dubai is where it will happen.