©MGM China Holdings

©MGM China Holdings

MGM COTAI Celebrates Grand Opening

Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) proudly supported the opening of MGM COTAI on Tuesday, February 13 2018. The resort is the latest addition to the MGM portfolio in Macau. 

MGM pursued this project with a vision to develop an integrated resort as the centerpiece of the international tourism destination of Cotai.  Eight cantilevering boxes combine two separate hotel towers into a single abstract form of stacked, decorated volumes.  The shifted volumes and large opening in the middle of the composition break down the overall scale and provide visual porosity to the city beyond. The façade draws on Chinese decorative imagery to create a jewelry box design and incorporates MGM’s trademark gold, bringing the building to life as a vibrant example of Macau’s extraordinary architecture.

The tower offers approximately 1,400 hotel rooms and suites, meeting spaces, a full-service spa, retail opportunities, and food and beverage outlets, and the first international ‘Skyloft at MGM’. A two-story podium at the base of the tower includes a 200,000 square-foot casino, an 80,000 square-foot convention center, a 60,000 square-foot retail concourse, and Asia’s first dynamic theater with 2,000 seats and a 900 square-metre LED screen. These multiple programs meet at “The Spectacle”, a multi-purpose attraction space flanked by terraced restaurants. The 96,000 square-foot Spectacle features a column-free diagrid glass roof with open views to the sky and ample natural light.

“From the outset, we wanted to design a structure that would really stand out on the skyline,” says John Bushell, Design Principal at KPF “Working closely with Ken Rosevear (President of MGM Resorts Development), we wanted to build something of the highest architectural quality that is also a place for people to have fun! By utilizing a composition of similar elements and openings in-between the building, we created a mountain landscape-like structure that allows a variety of interpretations. The outside is striking both in daylight and at night, with lots of dramatic spatial experiences within. The two different hotels and an exclusive Mansion all form part of a single distinctive unified composition.”

KPF’s design for MGM COTAI has already achieved impressive accolades at the 2017 Asia Property Awards, elevating its status to the most awarded integrated resort in Macau. The building also received a two-star certification under the Green Building (Macau) Design Label, making MGM COTAI the largest property and the first private sector project to achieve this distinction.