A new building has sprouted up in Macau that innovates in three dimensions on a form often found across the delta in Hong Kong: rectilinear boxes with central linear voids, a classic feng shui strategy to allow dragons to pass from the mountains down to the sea. But there is more than fantastical tradition to this approach: interior windows mean more natural light access and views for visitors, too.

When designers from Zaha Hadid Architects (images by Ivan Dupont and Virgile Simon Bertrand) came to the project, the base had already been built, forcing them into a rectangular configuration — above, however, they broke free, carving into the cubic shape with warps and curves.

The Morpheus Hotel boasts the world’s first free-form high-rise exoskeleton — its external steel grid provides support, freeing up interior spaces from structural walls and columns.

The bends, twists and openings resulting from this lively pattern were situated to provide strategic views of the surrounding city and coast.

“Morpheus combines its optimal arrangement with structural integrity and sculptural form,” said Viviana Muscettola, ZHA’s project director. “The design is intriguing as it makes no reference to traditional architectural typologies.”

“Macau’s buildings have previously referenced architecture styles from around the world. Morpheus has evolved from its unique environment and site conditions as a new architecture, expressly of this city.”

Known for designing dynamically curved structures in cities, Zaha Hadid’s only single-family residential project is certainly aligned with her signature style but also reacts to a very different and much more remote, natural and green context.

At the pinnacle sits the master suite, rising above the Russian forest canopy over 60 feet above the ground. Its glass walls and dual balconies were designed to give residents stunning views of the landscape. It sits at the top of a support stem housing a glass elevator (to enjoy the surroundings riding up and down).

The client recalls telling Hadid about his dream home: “I want to wake up in the morning and I want to just see blue sky. I don’t want to see any neighbors and I want to feel free.” Realizing this would mean the building would have to reach above the trees, she quickly sketched out the concept. The final structure, though, would be a complex one, richly and three-dimensionally expressive.

Below, a series of flowing volumes with wide roofs make up the majority of the home, with living spaces, swimming pool, lounges and kitchen on the lowest floor, a level embedded partly below ground. Guest quarters, childrens’ bedrooms and a library are located a floor above, as well as the main entrance.

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The design was sketched out over a decade a go, and conceptual renderings were published over the years, but the building wasn’t completed until recently, after Hadid had passed away. The client recalls she was a “very intellectual, smart and sharp woman,” he continues. “It was very tragic what happened, we lost one of the greatest architects of this century.”

This is a once-in-a-lifetime type project for an architect, being given a high budget and a lot of creative freedom. And it shows. “This project is an absolute testament to Zaha’s genius. This is a masterpiece. It has Zaha’s signature features of organic intricacy, complexity of spatial arrangement, a lot of surprises, and a lot of craftiness and beauty.” (Images courtesy of the OKO Group).

Buried within a mountaintop nearly 7,500 feet above sea level, this remarkable semi-subterranean mountaineering museum, designed for a unique client – the first man to scale Everest without oxygen.

Designed by Zaha Hadid (images by Werner Huthmacher), the Messner Mountain Museum Corones refers to Reinhold Messner. Located atop Mount Kronplatz in Italy, it is the first in a series of planned mountaintop museums, each designed to create a sense of journey and adventure for its visitors.

In this case, one arrives from the side then continues below the surface before emerging to discover a dazzling view of the surrounding landscapes and peaks, framed by huge windows or enjoyed from a balcony jutting over the edge.

As one travels through the building, the focus shifts from artifacts and exhibits within the museum back to the outdoor world that inspired this famous climber to become the first to ascend all fourteen of the world’s tallest peaks. The signature curves of Hadid’s work guide one through narrowing and widening spaces, slopes and steps, each shaping the experience.

From the architects: “A composition of fluid, interconnected volumes, the 1000 sq. m. MMM Corones design is carved within the mountain and informed by the geology and topography of its context. A sharp glass canopy, like a fragment of glacial ice, rises from the rock to mark and protect the museum’s entrance”

Without further landscaping, it is hard to say whether the building in reality reflects the mountain-piercing concept, but a freshly-constructed work of architecture is rarely finished until more greenery (and maybe in this case some additional dirt) comes back into play.

More from Messner on the museum itself: “On Kronplatz I present the development of modern mountaineering and 250 years of progress with regard to the equipment. I speak of triumphs and tragedies on the world’s most famous peaks – the Matterhorn, Cerro Torre, K2 – and shed light on alpinism with the help of relics, thoughts, works of art, and by reflecting the outside mountain backcloth in the interior of MMM Corones.”

Scheduled to land like an otherworldly spacecraft in Tokyo, the curvaceous, controversial but competition-winning National Stadium designed for the 2020 Olympics by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) will be restarted from scratch.

The structure has been criticized for everything from its mounting construction costs to its design that arguably clashes with the surrounding historic portions of the city and violates local height limits. After years of growing issues and complaints, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe finally announced a change of course: “We have decided to go back to the start on the Tokyo Olympics-Paralympics stadium plan, and start over from zero. I have been listening to the voices of the people for about a month now, thinking about the possibility of a review.”

Intended to be a sports center to last a century, the price tag has repeatedly climbed beyond original estimates, recently reaching a reported $2,000,000,000, in part due to expensive materials but also the complex shape. A number of Japanese architects also weighed in, signing a petition to scrap the project – Hadid, meanwhile, as a London-based Iraqi architect, has contended that their criticism is based on the selection of a designer from outside of the country.

Whether the 80,000-seat stadium will now be designed by another firm or simply restarted by Zaha Hadid is unclear as yet, but 7 years after she won the competition for this concept one might hope they will give her another chance to cut costs or come up with an alternative. For now, her firm has officially defended the direction they took, claiming the icon is worth the cost and comparable to other world-class sporting arenas in major cities around the globe and that local labor costs are part of the problem: “We have used our experience on major sports and cultural projects, including the hugely successful London 2012 Games and legacy, to design a stadium that can be built cost-effectively and still deliver the flexible and robust National Stadium that the Japan Sports Council requires.” Perhaps the final design solution will more closely mimic the famously futuristic 2020 Neo-Tokyo Olympic Games as predicted and portrayed in the famous 1988 anime Akira.

In a bold yet beautifully contextual move, this embedded mountaintop museum structure is part of a series of buildings set high in the mountains of Tyrol, Italy, and designed by Zaha Hadid Architects.

Visitors ascend the slope from below, enter a glazed above-ground space, then pass through subterranean exhibit rooms and come out onto an observation deck with stunning views down the steep sides of the mountain below.

The sixth of the set, Messner Mountain Museum is situated at the peak of Mount Kronplatz above a regional ski resort. It is designed to educate visitors on the discipline of mountaineering and celebrate the world’s greatest rock faces.

Aside from its sinuous aesthetic, the strength of this design relies on sequential experience – movement through the building provides an appreciation for both the site and the subject matter of the museum. It works, quite literally, on a number of levels.

From the architects: “A composition of fluid, interconnected volumes, the 1000 sq. m. MMM Corones design is carved within the mountain and informed by the geology and topography of its context. A sharp glass canopy, like a fragment of glacial ice, rises from the rock to mark and protect the museum’s entrance”