Zaha Hadid Architects just released spectacular photographs of the new ME Dubai hotel at the Opus, a high-rise steel and glass cube the studio designed with a dramatic 8-story void seemingly punched right through it.
The building, centrally located in the Burj Khalifa district near Downtown Dubai and Business Bay on the Dubai Water Canal, was the only hotel in which the late Zaha Hadid designed both the architecture as well as the interiors.
"Spanning 84,300 square metres (907,400 square feet), the Opus was designed as two separate towers that coalesce into a singular whole—taking the form of a cube," explains the project description. "The cube has been ‘eroded’ in its centre, creating a free-form void that is an important volume of the design in its own right. The two halves of the building on either side of the void are linked by a four-storey atrium at ground level and also connected by an asymmetric 38 metre wide, three-storey bridge 71 metres above the ground."
"The cube’s double-glazed insulating façades incorporate a UV coating and a mirrored frit pattern to reduce solar gain. Applied around the entire building, this dotted frit patterning emphasizes the clarity of the building’s orthogonal form, while at the same time, dissolving its volume through the continuous play of light varying between ever-changing reflections and transparency."
"The void’s 6,000 square metre façade is created from 4,300 individual units of flat, single-curved or double-curved glass. The high-efficiency glazing units are comprised of 8mm Low-E glass (coated on the inside), a 16mm cavity between the panes and 2 layers of 6mm clear glass with a 1.52mm PVB resin laminate. This curved façade was designed using digital 3D modelling that also identified specific zones which required tempered glass."
"Furniture by Zaha Hadid Design is installed throughout the hotel, including the ‘Petalinas’ sofas and 'Ottomans' pods in the lobby that are fabricated from materials ensuring a long lifecycle and its components can be recycled."
"The ME Dubai hotel incorporates 74 rooms and 19 suites, while the Opus building also houses offices floors, serviced residences and restaurants, cafes and bars including ROKA, the contemporary Japanese robatayaki restaurant and the MAINE Land Brasserie. Sensors throughout the Opus automatically adjust the ventilation and lighting according to occupancy to conserve energy while ME Dubai follows Meliá Hotels International initiatives for sustainable practices."
Project Team
Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects
Design: Zaha Hadid, Patrik Schumacher, Christos Passas
ZHA Design Director: Christos Passas
Local Architects: Arex Consultants [Dubai], BSBG [Dubai]
Dying to inspect floor plans and sections? Dig into drawings in the image gallery below.
14 Comments
Kudos on providing plans and sections from the grump who usually complains of their absence. This makes for much better analysis and experience of the project.
I think we've got ourselves an architecture website!
Stretch goal: make them large enough to read.
Good point. I hadn't clicked yet to find they don't enlarge--which some images sometimes do. So... baby steps, baby plans.
Why the fuck is it, that every time I look at a ZHA building, I'm almost immediately disappointed in the interiors. Much in the same way I'm disappointed in Wright's. The clumsy, off-putting "elegance" robs the slickness of the building, and seemingly makes move fast past the images...
I knew I recognized the set for Avenue 5...
i'm delighted to find i'm not the only architect who finds FLW's interiors disappointing, clumsy distractions from the good qualities of his work. this project a little too video gamish but ok. looks like a nice FFE showroom.
FLWs interiors are bad because he was egotistical and designed for himself, and he was a short man.
the Unity Temple interior design is great, though
the moulding strategy works better at this scale, than at the Robie House, imho
my THPS2 senses are tingling.
That bathroom made me drunk!
Where will Dubai be after the oil runs out?
still in Dubai, me thinks.
It's like someone moved the plans on the photocopier.
you know they actually did that, right?
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