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Macau: The Latest Architecture and News

The W Macau, Zaha Hadid's Newest Addition to Studio City, Opens to the Public

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.

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ZHA's Studio City Phase 2 in China Has Topped Out

Zaha Hadid Architects' Hollywood-inspired Studio City Phase 2 has reached its full height of construction. Located in the Cotai district of Macau, the resort expansion was assigned to Zaha Hadid Architects back in 2017, featuring new leisure, entertainment, and hospitality facilities, including one of Asia’s largest indoor & outdoor water parks. The project was named winner of the ‘Regional Award Asia’ at the BREEAM Awards 2021, and is set to be complete in December 2022.

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Ronald Lu & Partners Designs High-Density Environments Across the Rapidly Urbanising Greater Bay Area in South China

Ronald Lu & Partners Designs High-Density Environments Across the Rapidly Urbanising Greater Bay Area in South China - Featured Image
Shenzhen Prince Bay in collaboration with OMA as Design Architect. Image © Ronald Lu & Partners

China is undergoing a rapid urbanization process, and in South China’s Greater Bay Area (GBA), it takes the form of a comprehensive development strategy. The region, comprising the cities of Hong Kong, Macau as well as other nine fast-developing municipalities in Guangdong Province, is being transformed into a city-cluster of world importance and architecture practice. Ronald Lu & Partners contributes to this vision through high-density urban developments shaped around principles of sustainability and human-centric design.

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Open Call: macau [ morphosis ] WATERFRONT FUN PALACE

Design Synopsis
The debate is whether Macau can continue to be a liveable city with such deficit and lack in social spaces.
The competition challenges designers to bring back these spaces that once belonged to the locals, to create new social spaces and recover the lost connection between the city and its people.
We seek proposals and designs of an alternative form of social and entertainment architecture that diverges from the existing gambling culture.

Jury
Viviana Muscettola, Associate Director, Zaha Hadid, Architects, London

Michela Falcone, Senior Architect, Zaha Hadid Architects, London

Negar Moghtadaei, Founder & CEO, Tarkib Studio, Canada

Yashar Montazeri, Founder & CEO, Tarkib Studio, Canada

Zeth Ko,

Stone, Glass, and Bamboo Meet in Foster + Partners' Recently-Opened Apple Store in Macau

Foster + Partners has published photographs of their recently-opened Apple Store in Macau, intended as a “new oasis of calm” against the city’s buzz and excitement. The store, opened on June 29th, was designed in response to a brief calling for “an inviting, contemplative space, where technology, entertainment, and arts come together to make a positive contribution to the city.”

Apple Cotai Central was designed in a close collaboration between Foster + Partners and Apple’s chief design officer Sir Jonathan Ive, a collaboration which has previously produced Apple stores at Michigan Avenue in Chicago, and Regent Street in London.

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RSHP and Aedas Unveil Boundary Crossing Building for World's Longest Motorway Bridge in China

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) and Aedas have unveiled the design of a new boundary crossing that will serve as an important transportation exchange point within the Pearl River Delta, linking Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China. Already under construction, the project is expected to be completed in 2019.

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Ten Buildings Which Epitomize The Triumph Of Postmodernism

Being such a recent movement in the international architectural discourse, the reach and significance of post-modernism can sometimes go unnoticed. In this selection, chosen by Adam Nathaniel Furman, the "incredibly rich, extensive and complex ecosystem of projects that have grown out of the initial explosion of postmodernism from the 1960s to the early 1990s" are placed side by side for our delight.

From mosques that imagine an idyllic past, via Walt Disney’s Aladdin from the 1990s, to a theatre in Moscow that turns its façade into a constructivist collage of classical scenes, "there are categories in post-modernism to be discovered, and tactics to be learned." These projects trace forms of complex stylistic figuration, from the high years of academic postmodernism, to the more popular of its forms that spread like wildfire in the latter part of the 20th century.

"City of Dreams" Hotel Tower / Zaha Hadid Architects

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.

Take a digital tour through the building and into the atrium via a newly released video, after the break...

Hong Kong Tops Charts as World's Most Expensive Construction Market

EC Harris’ 2013 International Construction Costs Report has named Hong Kong as the most expensive city in the world to build in. The annual study, which benchmarks building costs in 47 countries across the globe, found that relative construction costs have been affected by substantial fluctuations in currency throughout the year. Despite a stagnant economy, Europe has six of the top ten most expensive markets in this year’s report, reflecting the competitive challenge faced by the Eurozone.

The top ten most expensive countries to build in are:

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Boundary Crossing Facilities proposal / Adrian Lo

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Boundary Crossing Facilities proposal / Adrian Lo - Featured Image
© Adrian Lo

Architect Adrian Lo shared with us his proposal for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Boundary Crossing Facilities Competition. See more images and architect’s description after the break.

One Central Macau / KPF

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International architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) unveiled today their design for One Central Macau. This luxury 400,000 square foot retail facility as part of a grand scale mixed-use development designed by KPF, and completes yet another key milestone in the city’s continued growth.

More images and description after the break.

Macau Pavillion for Shanghai Expo 2010 / Carlos Marreiros

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The Macau Pavilion at Shanghai World Expo 2010 will take the shape of a jade rabbit lantern. Designed by Chinese firm Carlos Marreiros Architects the pavilion will be wrapped with a double-layer glass membrane and feature fluorescent screens on its outer walls. Balloons will serve as the head and tail of the ‘rabbit’, which can be moved up and down to attract visitors.

The building will be constructed with recyclable materials and consists of solar power panels and rain collection systems. The design was inspired by rabbit lanterns popular during the mid-autumn festival in south China in ancient times.

Seen at designboom. More images after the break.