The Opus in Dubai by Zaha Hadid Architects, a mixed-use building formed of conjoined towers with a irregular void in the middle, is almost ready to open.
Set in the Burj Khalifa district, the Opus will be Dubai's only building which has both the interior and exterior designed by the late Zaha Hadid, who founded Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA).
Hotel interiors for the ME Dubai hotel are currently being fitted out, for the scheduled opening in 2020. The 20-storey development from Omniyat will also house 12 restaurants and a rooftop bar, as well as office spaces.
Two glazed adjacent 100-metre-high towers form a cube shape, with a curving eight-storey void that appears as if it has been carved from its centre.
These towers are connected by a four-storey atrium ground level and an asymmetric sky-bridge that is 38-metres wide and three storeys tall, suspended 71 metres from the ground.
"The design conveys the remarkably inventive quality of ZHA's work," said Mahdi Amjad, CEO of Omniyat.
"[It] expresses a sculptural sensibility that reinvents the balance between solid and void, opaque and transparent, interior and exterior."
The designs were first unveiled in 2007 by Hadid, who died in 2016. It was originally due to complete in 2018, but was pushed back due to construction delays.
Designs for the Opus' interiors, which were unveiled at the 2014 London Design Festival, include sculptural balconies, angular beds, and a sculpture of dangling glass balls in the lobby.
The Opus will be located near the Burj Khalifa, the 828-metre-high supertall skyscraper designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill that remains unchallenged for the title of the world's tallest building.
ZHA recently completed another hotel with a curving void, the Morpheus in Macau. Three holes punctuate the middle of the Morpheus, which uses an innovative exoskeleton construction so that the hotel interiors remain uncluttered by supporting walls or columns.
Photography by Laurian Ghinitoiu.