One of the two hotels Zaha Hadid Architects designed in their Hollywood-Inspired “Studio City” Resorts has just opened to the public. Located in the Cotai district of Macau, the resort features leisure, entertainment, and hospitality facilities, including one of Asia’s largest indoor & outdoor water parks. The resort also features 557 rooms and suites spread across 40 floors. Inspired by Hollywood, ZHA was commissioned in 2018 to expand the resort, resulting in Studio City Phase 2.
The Studio City resort has been a destination for guests and visitors in the Cotai district since 2015. When Zaha Hadid Architects were assigned to the expansion in 2017, new facilities were being designed, ranging from cafes, restaurants, a pool, a spa, a gym, and a recording studio for the guests. The design draws inspiration from the “cinematic references” from the existing resort, reinterpreting Art Deco in a contemporary way. Moreover, the design focuses specifically on bold geometries, detailing, and intricate craftsmanship in an up-to-date manner.
The project was named the ‘Regional Award Asia’ winner at the BREEAM Awards 2021, recognizing its high-performance building envelope and high-efficiency services that reduce energy consumption. In order to reduce solar heat while ensuring a comfortable thermal environment, W Macau’s architecture boasts three different types of glass with external fins that emphasize the verticality of the towers.
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A Luxury Safari Resort in Africa and an Eco-Lodge in Rural Greece: 8 Unbuilt Resorts Submitted by the ArchDaily CommunityThe building of Studio City Phase Two was detoured away from the surrounding 15-hectare protected wetland of the Macau Cotai Ecological Zone due to extensive environmental analyses. The orientation and design of the circular towers were carefully considered to enable natural airflow throughout and around the resort. In fact, an ecologist also came up with ways to conserve the area's current plant life and introduced compensatory plantings of local species appropriate to Macau's climate.
Since opening in 2015, Studio City has become a destination landmark in Macau with its unique entertainment theme and experience. The extension project will complement our existing offering of ‘next-generation’ world-class entertainment and further enhance the distinctive Studio City experience. -- Mr. David Sisk, Chief Operating Officer of Macau Resorts, Melco
Last February, the City of Vilnius, Lithuania, approved the Zaha Hadid-designed Business Stadium Central. The project aims to become a new gathering space filled with public space, flexible workplaces, and health and wellness facilities for the entirety of the city. The most recent international Worldcon took place at the Chengdu Science Fiction Museum, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. This event is the largest science fiction festival worldwide, hosting the 81st annual convention. Finally, the studio was recently selected to deliver the new Aarhus football stadium in Denmark in collaboration with architecture and engineering consultancy Sweco and landscape architects Tredje Natur.
