Melco Resorts and Entertainment’s Morpheus has triumphed in the 2019 building of the year awards, coming out in top spot in the hospitality architecture category.
The $1.1bn project, the world’s first free-form exoskeleton high-rise designed by the late Dame Zaha Hadid, forms part of Melco’s Cotai-based integrated casino resort City of Dreams.
Morpheus came out on top in one of the awards’ 15 categories, shortlisted from over 4,000 global architectural projects, as voted by readers of ArchDaily, the world’s most visited architecture website.
Celebrating its tenth year, this year’s awards received more than 80,000 votes from the platform’s readership comprising global professionals, recognising architectural excellence for its beauty, intelligence, creativity and contribution to society.
Viviana Muscettola, associate director of Zaha Hadid Architects, explained: “Macau’s buildings have previously referenced architecture styles from around the world. Morpheus has evolved from its unique environment and site conditions as a new architecture expressly of this city.
“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.”
Named after the god of dreams in Greek Mythology, Morpheus is the latest addition to the Phase III development of City of Dreams Macau, with this achievement following the entity being named one of Time Magazine’s “World’s Greatest Places 2018” last year, just two months after opening.
Lawrence Ho, chairman and chief executive officer of Melco Resorts & Entertainment, said of the award: “Melco and Zaha Hadid Architects shared the same vision and determination from the very beginning to push boundaries.
“Morpheus offers a journey of the imagination, offering sophisticated travellers the most remarkable experiences that go beyond gaming and raise the bar in global luxury hospitality.
“We are excited to receive this global accolade, and wish to thank the award organisers and its voters, and of course ZHA for making this achievement possible. Melco will continue to aspire to the creation of iconic world-firsts for both Macau and beyond.”
