New Zealand Commercial Design Trends Series NZ Commercial Design Trends Vol. 34/02C | Page 86

rooms, suites and sky villas. Public amenities
include civic spaces, meeting and event facilities,
gaming rooms, restaurants, a spa and rooftop pool.
When ZHA began working on the feasibility study
for Morpheus in 2012, the foundations of a stalled
project were already in place and three sides of the
site was enclosed by construction, including the
high rise resort hotel to the west. To the north was a
six lane highway.
“Vertical extrusion seemed logical as it addressed
the two constraint sets: the restricted footprint
and the dense, varied programme. This strategy
also allowed Morpheus to be designed as a single
volume with a fluid exoskeleton,” says Muscettola.
Within this form, two internal vertical circula-
tion cores, or towers, are connected horizontally
at podium and roof level, where dense accom-
modation was required. This generated a simple
block, maximising the development envelope, with
radiused edges, its height limited by a 160m aviation
zone restriction.
“The block was then punctuated with three
diversely shaped voids, forming vortex-like urban
windows that define the dramatic internal public
spaces and create unique corner suites with spec-
tacular views of both the atrium and the city.”
This architectural arrangement maximises the
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number of hotel rooms with external views and
guarantees an equal room distribution on both
sides of the building.
Running through the voids, a series of bridges
create unique spaces for restaurants, bars and
guest lounges. In addition, 12 glass elevators
provide guests with arresting views of Morpheus’
interiors and exterior as they travel skywards up the
two internal towers.
Morpheus’ interior spaces called for a high
degree of adaptability to accommodate the varying
spacial needs of its guest amenities. The hotel’s
exoskeleton helped with this by creating generous,
flexible interior spaces that are uninterrupted by
supporting walls or columns.
“This sculptural form has an intriguing, mys-
terious allure because it makes no reference to
traditional architectural typologies,” says the project
director. “An alternative interpretation would be to
see it as a gyrating abstraction of a triumphal arch
or the west front of Notre-Dame de Paris – both
emphatic portals, like Morpheus.”
And environmental engineering was naturally
intrinsic to the sophisticated building. Solar gain is
minimised by high performance glazing while the
hotel’s exoskeleton provides additional screening
from the sun. Plus, only zones used by guests and
Below:Almost everything is a
sculptural event in the modern
hotel, including the internally lit
marble reception area.
Facing page:Like many of
the hotel’s public spaces, this
restaurant is tucked into the
corners of a void that provides
an open connection between
the hotel’s interiors and the
surrounding landscape.