Morpheus was, in Greek mythology, the god of sleep, and recently, he was a major figure in the Matrix movies. Today in Macau, China there is a recently opened, new structure that houses a hotel named Morpheus that, according to an article in Building Design + Construction, “represents the first free form high rise exoskeleton building designed by the Zaha-Hadid firm.”
Comprising 770 guest rooms, suites, and sky villas, the Morpheus Hotel provides 147,860 sm of space across 42 stories” and resting on a casino in the City of Dreams development. Amenities include civic spaces, meeting and events facilities, gaming rooms, a lobby atrium, restaurants, and a spa and rooftop pool.
The building is a striking form that rises on a set of abandoned foundations from an original building whose construction was stopped in 2012 and then restarted with this striking design. The basis of this striking free form design is a pair of towers connected at ground and roof levels connected by a series of bridges, voids and pedestrian walkways that contain restaurants, walkways, bars and guest lounges
The exterior and the interior of the structure represents a building in motion and the free form of the exoskeleton creates a gravity defying form for the Macau skyline. The vortices and column free interior provides for a wide variety of experiences in the rooms, suites and the public spaces. Hotel guests ride in 12 glass enclosed elevators that offer some amazing views.
According to a report in the Robb Report about the hotel that opened last week, “True to Hadid’s vision as an innovator, the Morpheus is also a first in the field of architecture for the collaborative way in which it was created. Digitally generated, the structure’s model was able to be tweaked by any member of the design team from anywhere in the world at any time—and the design would be instantly recalibrated, analyzed, and checked. The result is a whole new way to design spaces,” says Viviana Muscettola, project director for Zaha Hadid Architects. “These innovations will radically change how we will build in the future.”
"Once again," Hadid who died in 2016, "has left her mark in more ways than one."
This new hotel in the City of Dreams development in China’s “Las Vegas” of Macau is developed by Melco Resorts & Entertainment. The Contractor for the facility was Dragages Macau and the structural engineer was Buro Happold International of Hong Kong.
