News: architect Zaha Hadid has designed the interior for a hotel inside her Opus development in Dubai, which will feature sculptural balconies and her installation for this year's London Design Festival (+ slideshow).
Zaha Hadid's ME Dubai hotel is part of the development by property company Omniyat, situated in the Burj Khalifa district beside the world's tallest building.
The London-based architect has designed both the exterior of the building and the hotel's interior, including the Michelin-star restaurants and bars set to open within the space.
The 100-room hotel will include four penthouses with double-height living areas, bespoke furniture and access to private roof terraces.
Other guest rooms will also be designed in Hadid's signature curvaceous style, with sculptural walls, angular beds and fluid surfaces.
The reception area is located beneath a glazed void, which splits the 95-metre-tall building in two.
A metallic feature reaching up one side of an atrium adjacent to the reception branches out to create balconies from each floor, extending onto the lower level to provide seating areas and space for a cafe.
Glass spheres suspended to create a giant artwork will also hang beneath the atrium's glazed roof.
An installation commissioned by ME by Meliá Hotels International and designed by Hadid will be relocated from London's V&A museum, where it is being installed for this year's London Design Festival in September, to the hotel's grounds before it opens in 2016.
The Crest structure features steps down to the water, creating swooping lines around the edge of the pool and a minimal asymmetric bridge curving over the water, linking the two sides.
"We envisaged a piece that would emerge from the fountain at the centre of the pool," Hadid told Wallpaper magazine. "The metallic surface will reflect the sky on one side and the rippling water on the underside."
London Design Festival visitors will be able to view the piece at the V&A's John Madejski Garden from 13 to 21 September.
"Crest animates and engages with the V&A's courtyard and we're looking forward to seeing the installation inhabited and enjoyed by visitors," said Hadid.
Hadid has also designed a hotel with an exposed exoskeleton for Macau, set to open shortly after the ME Dubai.