June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Brad Pitt, the star of ``Fight Club'' and ``Ocean's 11'' who professes a passion for architecture, will be a design consultant for an 800-room hotel and resort Zabeel Properties plans to build in Dubai, the developer said.

Zabeel, based in Dubai, hired architecture firm Graft LLC to design an America-themed hotel in the United Arab Emirates city, the closely held developer said today in a statement. Los Angeles-based Graft, which has worked with Pitt on rebuilding efforts in New Orleans, will include the 44-year-old actor on its Dubai design team, Zabeel said.

``Acting is my career, architecture is my passion,'' Pitt said in the statement. As ``my first major construction project,'' the Dubai hotel will feature ``environmentally friendly architecture, but also embrace my career in entertainment.''

Detailed plans for the hotel and resort will be made public in the next few months, Zabeel said. The developer didn't give the project's exact location or say how much it would cost to build.

``Dubai has attracted celebrities to its projects as a means of marketing them to an international audience,'' said Scott Feasey, chief executive officer of Expression FZ LLC, a Dubai-based marketing agency.

Tiger Woods

Until now, sports stars have led the way. Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia are both designing their first golf courses in Dubai. Former Wimbledon tennis champion Boris Becker and ex-Formula One drivers Michael Schumacher and Niki Lauda have put their names to towers in Dubai without having a hand in the design.

Zabeel's properties comprise about $5 billion of residential, commercial and hotel projects, including Tiara Residence and Tiara Hotel, which are part of the Palm Jumeirah artificial-island development.

Graft is one of the architecture firms Pitt began working with in 2007 to rebuild New Orleans's Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Pitt's New Orleans-based Make It Right organization is working to build affordable homes in the area.

Pitt has long been an admirer of Scottish architect and designer Charles Rennie MacKintosh and American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, BusinessWeek magazine said in a 2005 profile of the actor. He became friends with Frank Gehry during a home- renovation project in 2001, and studied computer-aided design at the architect's Los Angeles offices, the magazine said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Taub in Los Angeles at dtaub@bloomberg.net; Matthew Brown in Dubai at mbrown42@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 2, 2008 06:54 EDT