Morpheus is a neo-futurist

luxury hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...

, Special administrative regions of China that is operated by

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited is a developer, owner and operator of integrated resorts with entertainment and casino gaming facilities in Asia and Europe. Based in Hong Kong, the company is listed on the NASDAQ. Originally known as Melco ...

. Opened in June 2018, ''

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'' describes it as "the world’s first free-form exoskeleton-bound high-rise: a grid of steel envelops 40 stories of glass with a fluidity inspired by Chinese jade carving." The interior has a gaming floor, a rooftop pool, a modern-art gallery, and restaurants by chefs such as

Alain Ducasse Alain Ducasse (; born 13 September 1956) is a French-born Monégasque chef. He operates a number of restaurants including Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester which holds three stars (the top rating) in the Michelin Guide. Early life and career ...

. The hotel tops out at 160 meters tall. The hotel's 772 rooms include nine two-story "sky villas," three of which have private pools. Designed by

Zaha Hadid Architects Zaha Hadid Architects is a British architecture and design firm founded by Zaha Hadid (1950–2016), with its main office situated in Clerkenwell, London. Architectural work Conceptual projects *Price Tower extension hybrid project (2002), Ba ...

and developed by Melco Resorts for

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

$1.1 billion, the hotel is the first building in Asia without a singular internal column and tops out at .

History

Morpheus was developed by

, then Melco Crown Entertainment, as a hotel casino at the City of Dreams, a resort which "comprises four other hotels, and a variety of luxury retail, entertainment venues and casinos" in

Cotai Cotai (; pt, Zona do Aterro de Cotai) is a piece of newly reclaimed land on top of Seac Pai Bay between Taipa and Coloane islands in Macau, that has made two independent islands become one island, since 2005. The word (a portmanteau of Coloan ...

. The hotel was described by the company as part of "phase 3" of the resort's construction, and is located on the last land parcel to be developed within the resort. Melco's chairman and CEO

Lawrence Ho Lawrence Ho Yau-lung (; born 1977) is a Hong Kong-born Canadian businessman. Starting his career as an investment banker at Jardine Fleming and Citibank, in 2001 he took over operations at Melco International. Later named chairman and CEO, ...

stated that he envisioned Morpheus as a "launchpad for a global hotel brand." Melco Resorts & Entertainment contacted

(ZHA) to design the building in January 2012. Upon visiting the location, the firm found that it presented "an unusual set of challenges. First, the site offered a relatively tight 6,850 square metre (74,000 square foot) rectangular building footprint," and "the new superstructure had to be adjusted to fit a site already with foundations." The ultimate design was inspired by Chinese jade artifacts, with a twisting exoskeleton supporting two towers and multiple skybridges. Explained the architects, "one of the initial references we used was the carving out of the jade. The idea of the exoskeleton came soon after... to be able to free as much as possible of the interior layout." Construction on the building began in 2014. To fabricate the exoskeleton, structural steel plates were welded into unique shapes at a shipbuilding facility in

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, "where workers were familiar with large, curved structures. To minimise welding on-site, the factory assembled one member with each node before transporting them by road." The name Morpheus was announced at a name-unveiling event in November 2016, at which point construction was projected to be complete in early 2018. In 2017, it was announced that chef

would be operating two of the restaurants at the hotel. While no new gaming tables licenses were granted by the

Macau government The Government of the Macau Special Administrative Region (; Portuguese: Governo da R.A.E. de Macau; conventional short name Macau Government, 澳門政府, Governo de Macau), are headed by secretariats or commissioners and report directly to ...

, 40 existing tables were given allowance to be transferred from other Melco properties to the hotel's VIP casino. Despite the lack of new allocations, an analyst estimated the new hotel could still "contribute up to 40 percent in revenue growth" for City of Dreams. In May 2018, Melco Resorts announced that the hotel tower would not use

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