News: Zaha Hadid Architects has unveiled images of a 40-storey hotel with an exposed exoskeleton that is under construction in Macau, China (+ movie).

The 780-room hotel was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects for property developer and casino specialist Melco Crown Entertainment. It will be located at the company's flagship City of Dreams resort in Cotai, an area that takes its visual cues from the Las Vegas Strip.

Conceived as a monolithic block with a series of voids carved through its centre, the hotel will be encased behind a latticed structure.

It will contain 150,000 square metres of floor space, and will also contain meeting and event facilities, restaurants, a spa and an elevated swimming pool.

"The design combines dramatic public spaces and generous guest rooms with innovative engineering and formal cohesion," said the architects in a statement.

The building will be Melco Crown's fifth hotel in Macau which, like Hong Kong, is a Special Administrative Region of China.

Construction started on the building in 2013 and is set to be completed by 2017.

Images and animation are by Methanoia.

Here are some more details from Zaha Hadid Architects:

The Fifth Hotel of City of Dreams Macau

Melco Crown Entertainment, a developer and owner of casino gaming and entertainment resort facilities in Asia, has unveiled the project details and design of the fifth hotel tower at City of Dreams, the company's flagship property in Cotai, Macau.

With 40 floors and a gross floor area of 150,000 square metres, the tower houses approximately 780 guestrooms, suites and sky villas. The hotel also includes a variety of meeting and event facilities, gaming rooms, lobby atrium, restaurants, spa, and sky pool. Including extensive back of house areas and supporting ancillary facilities, the tower's design resolves the many complex programs for the hotel within a single cohesive envelope.

The design combines dramatic public spaces and generous guest rooms with innovative engineering and formal cohesion. The rectangular outline of the site is extruded as a monolithic block with a series of voids which carve through the its centre of the tower, merging traditional architectural elements of roof, wall and ceiling to create a sculptural form that defines many of the hotel's internal public spaces.

The tower's exposed exoskeleton reinforces the dynamism of the design. Expressive and powerful, this external structure optimises the interior layouts and envelops the building, further defining its formal composition and establishing relationships with the new Cotai strip.

Development of the new hotel at City of Dreams commenced in 2013. The project is expected to open in early 2017.