The design resolves the hotel’s many complex programmes within a single cohesive envelope housing 770 guest rooms, suites and sky villas, and includes civic spaces, meeting and event facilities, gaming rooms, lobby atrium, restaurants, spa and rooftop pool, as well as extensive back-of-house areas and ancillary facilities.
Morpheus was designed as a vertical extrusion of the existing abandoned foundations on the site for a tower that did not progress; 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.
A central atrium runs the height of the hotel and is traversed by external voids that define the hotel’s dramatic public spaces. In-between these voids, a series of bridges create unique spaces for the hotel’s restaurants, bars and guest lounges by renowned chefs including Alain Ducasse and Pierre Herme.
As one of the world’s leading hotels, Morpheus’ interior spaces necessitated a high degree of adaptability to accommodate the many varying requirements of its guest amenities.
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 freeform 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.