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Morpheus Hotel wins Asia Pacific Property Awards 2019

Morpheus Hotel has been named ‘Best Hotel Architecture’ and ‘Best New Hotel Construction & Design’ in Macau at Asia Pacific Property Awards 2019.

The Asia Pacific Property Awards are part of the International Property Awards, established in 1994 to celebrate the highest levels of achievement by companies operating in all sectors of the property and real estate industry.

Morpheus hotel combines dramatic public spaces and guest rooms with innovative engineering and formal cohesion.

ZHA was commissioned to build the hotel in 2012. At that time, foundations were already in place of a condominium tower that did not progress. ZHA designed the Morpheus as a simple vertical extrusion of the existing abandoned foundations; using this rectangular footprint to define a 40-storey building of two internal vertical circulation cores connected at podium and roof levels where the many guest amenities were required. Three horizontal vortices generate the voids through the central atrium and define the hotel’s spectacular interior public spaces. In-between these voids, a series of bridges create unique spaces for the restaurants, bars and guest lounges.

Working with Buro Happold Engineering, ZHA designed the building’s exoskeleton to optimise the interiors by creating spaces that are uninterrupted by supporting walls or columns. The world’s first free-form high-rise exoskeleton, its rich pattern of structural members at lower levels progresses upwards to a less dense grid of lighter members at its summit.

Viviana Muscettola, ZHA's project director explains, "The expertise of all members of the Morpheus team has created new possibilities for architecture. The comprehensive parametric model combined all of the hotel's aesthetic, structural and fabrication requirements and will radically change how our built environment is planned and constructed.”

TIME Magazine listed Morpheus Hotel as one of the World’s Greatest Places based on key factors, including quality, originality, innovation, sustainability and influence. Winner of three Awards for Excellence from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) including Best Tall Building 100-199 meters; Innovation; Fire & Risk Engineering, Morpheus was also named overall winner of the Fire & Risk Engineering category. Morpheus was also voted ArchDaily’s Building of the Year’ (BOTY) in the hospitality / commercial category while Popular Science Magazine included the hotel in their list ‘Best of What New 2018’.

Asia Pacific 2019 Award winners

Photograph by Virgile Simon Bertrand