Zaha Hadid Designs “City of Dreams” Hotel Tower in Macau

Zaha Hadid Architects has designed a 40-story luxury hotel for Macau’s premier leisure and entertainment destination known as “City of Dreams.” Perceived as a single “sculptural element” united by an exposed exoskeleton mesh structure, the “simple volume” was extruded from its rectangular site as two towers connected at the podium and roof levels, with two organically-shaped bridges punctuating the tower’s center external void. This central void is then celebrated by a 40-meter tall, “grandiose atrium” that greets visitors as they enter the hotel. 

“The tower’s exposed exoskeleton reinforces the dynamism of the design. Expressive and powerful, this external structure optimizes the interior layouts and envelops the building, further defining its formal composition and establishing relationships with the new Cotai strip,” described ZHA in a press release.

Once complete in early 2017, the hotel will house a retail strip, gaming area and the atrium, which includes the main reception area, lobby bar, and a flexible installation space, on the ground floor, in addition to 780 hotel units, a casino floor, specialty restaurants, a “super lounge,” VIP gaming, top floor villas and a “sky pool.”

Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects
Location: Cotai, Macau
Design: Zaha Hadid & Patrik Schumacher
Project Directors: Viviana Muscettola, Michele Pasca di Magliano
Facade Director : Paolo Matteuzzi
Project Architects: Maria Loreto Flores, Clara Martins, Michele Salvi
Project Team: Pierandrea Angius, Luis Miguel Samanez, Massimo Napoleoni, Bianca Cheung, Miron Mutyaba, Milind Khade, Stefano Lacopini Davide, Del Giudice Luciano, Letteriello Cyril Manyara, Alvin Triestanto, Muhammed Shameel, Goswin Rothenthal, Santiago Fernandez- Achury
Concept Team: Viviana Muscettola, Tiago Correia, Clara Martins, Loreto Flores, Victor Orive, Danilo Arsic, Ines Fontoura, Fabiano Costinanza, Rafael Gonzalez, Muhammed Shameel
Developer: Melco Crown Entertainment Limited
Consultants Executive Architect: L&O, Hong Kong
Local Architect: CAA, Macau
Structural Engineering: / Hong Kong
M&E Engineering: JRP, Hong Kong; Buro Happold, London (Concept)
Facade Engineering: Buro Happold, Hong Kong
Interior Designer: Remedios Studio, Long Beach CA
Gaming Designer: Friedmutter Group, Las Vegas NV
Quantity Surveyor: WTP, Hong Kong
Lighting Design: Isometrix, London/ Hong Kong
Fire Engineering: Ove Arup, Hong Kong
Acoustic Consultant: Shen Milson & Wilke, Hong Kong
Traffic Engineer: MVA, Hong Kong
Building Contractor: Dragages, Hong Kong
Area: 150000.0 sqm
Year: 2017
Photographs: Zaha Hadid Architects; 2014 Melco Crown Entertainment Limited