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Showing posts with label Macau. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Macau. Show all posts

Monday, October 16, 2017

The Morpheus Hotel in Macau: Architecture Filling a Void with Voids

The MGM Cotai casino resort won't be the only building with a creative contemporary design to open in Macau early next year. A pair of connected towers under construction nearby will be the fifth hotel at the City of Dreams casino resort. The structural steel exoskeleton of the Morpheus already stands out amongst the neighboring towers.

City of Dreams casino resort in Macau including the new Morpheus hotel


The building was designed by the late architect Zaha Hadid, the first woman recipient of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize. According to the City of Dreams website:
Inspired by jade artifacts, Morpheus is a sculpture, mysterious and intriguing in its unconventional architectural composition. A series of voids gives it complexity and volume, a unique appearance as well as exciting internal spaces. Its two towers are connected at the podium levels and the roof, and there are two additional bridges for guests to experience the external voids within the building.
A few different perspectives from ground level on the north side of the building highlight the irregular patterns formed around the hard-to-miss voids:

north side of the Morpheus hotel at City of Dreams in Macau


north side of the Morpheus hotel at City of Dreams in Macau


north side of the Morpheus hotel at City of Dreams in Macau


A City of Dreams video from several years ago more fully reveals the building's design from a wide range of perspectives not available to your average passerby:



And a Kyotec Group video from half a year ago shows some of the building's actual construction without any android-like simulated humans walking around:



Near the top of one of the nearby towers at the City of Dreams is the Count:Down Clock, which appears in the upper right of this photo:

Count-down clock at City of Dreams in Macau


The clock not only counts down to the opening of the Morpheus but also the reveal for the rebranding of the round tower, formerly the Hard Rock Hotel. The hotel there currently uses the placeholder name The Countdown.

In an interview for the Macau Tatler, designer Maarten Baas shared some of the inspiration for the clock, the latest edition for his “Real Time” series:
For this project, obviously we wanted to do something with the theme of counting down. Yet, there are plenty of ways to count down. The first thought was to make it look like real people were each individually making a digit. There are digits for hours and digits for minutes. So some digits have to go very fast, while others only change every 100 or 1,000 hours. So there was this contrast between the activities, which I liked. I gave them all a black suit, as if they are chic servers of time, similar to personal butlers. I was also inspired by the luxury lifestyle in Macau.
Inside Asian Gaming posted a brief video showing a little of how the clock counts down with the help of recorded actors:



So before the middle of next year, the Morpheus with its impressive voids will open and another hotel at the City of Dreams will have a new name. More surprises may be in store as well. The Count:Down Clock hits zero on April 1.

Friday, October 13, 2017

A Casino Resort in Macau Turns on the Lights While Waiting to Open

The MGM Cotai, MGM China's second casino resort in Macau, has yet to open despite previous plans to open as early as 2016 and then by October 1 of this year. Reportedly, Typhoon Hato played a role in the latest delay:
MGM China said its previously stated Q4 2017 timeline for the opening of its in-development MGM Cotai resort casino was no longer attainable, and thus the company was delaying the property’s launch date until January 29, 2018. . . .

MGM Cotai didn’t escape Hato’s wrath, and the company says repairing the damage will “slightly” delay the inspections by local government officials that are necessary for MGM Cotai to obtain its various operating licenses.
Even when it opens, the resort casino will be holding back some offerings:
The casino resort MGM Cotai – promoted by Macau-based gaming operator MGM China Holdings Ltd – is set to open only with mass gaming tables, but VIP gaming is to be offered at a later stage, said on Thursday the firm’s chief executive, Grant Bowie. . . .

“We certainly will be opening [MGM Cotai with] only mass tables but we are looking to develop relationships and we have already developed relationships with a number of junkets,” Mr Bowie told reporters on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the Macau Oktoberfest at MGM Macau.
The delays are obviously frustrating to MGM China, its investors, future employees, and anybody desiring to visit the casino resort.

On the bright side, though, barring more delays the resort casino will be open in time for the next Lunar New Year holiday. And the lights already turn on at night at the architecturally intriguing building.

MGM Cotai with its lights turned on

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Medicina Chinesa and B.S. Medical Signs in Macau

I have had a cold for the past few days. At first I thought it would be low impact and quick. The cold has had other ideas though.

So in that spirit, I will share photos of two contrasting signs for medical establishments I recently noticed in Macau.

The first sign is for the Mestre de Medicina Chinesa Kong Tong Sam on Rua de Coelho do Amaral.

sign for the Mestre de Medicina Chinesa Kong Tong Sam in Macau


I liked the look of the sign.

The second sign is for a medical center with a focus on dermatology on Rua da Colina.

sign for the B.S. Medical Center in Macau


In this case I was struck by its English name — in particular, my first reading of "B.S." as "bullshit". For the obvious reasons, I doubt that was intended though.

In all likelihood, "B.S." represents the first letters of the romanization of the first two Chinese characters in its name. It also may be no coincidence that the doctor who practices there uses the English name Dr. Benny Si.

If I were now in Macau, I probably would have just gone to an outlet of a familiar health care and beauty chainstore with a pharmacy and picked up some medicine there. But these two places definitely have more interesting signs.

Thursday, September 7, 2017

The Aftermath of Typhoon Hato in Macau: A Major Cleanup Effort Three Days After the Storm

Closed shops on Rua da Pedra in Macau
Closed shops on Rua da Pedra in Macau


Typhoon Hato not only caused significant damage in Zhuhai but in neighboring Macau as well. Three days after the storm hit I crossed the land border which separates the cities to spend some time in Macau. I had just learned electricity had finally been restored to most of Macau, and I assumed enough debris would have been removed that walking through the dense city would not be problematic. Given the relatively limited amount of time I spent in Macau, I won't be doing as extensive of an overview of the the typhoon's impact there. Instead, I will simply share some of what I saw that afternoon and evening in the city, which admittedly was much more than I had expected.

After I passed through Portas do Cerco, the immigration checkpoint on the Macau side of the border, I saw one of a few downed trees still around at the pedestrian street on Istmo de Ferreira do Amaral.

Cleanup from Typhoon Hato


But later I was relieved to see that the large trees at the Chuk Lam Temple (竹林寺) all remained standing.



Like several groceries stores I saw, the several 7-Elevens, common in Macau, I stopped by all had mostly empty shelves where items such as milk and and fresh juice were usually kept cool.



But at a street wet market in the Three Lamps District, along with vegetables and other foods, I saw the usually full selection of roasted meats.



One of the more notable impacts of the storm could be seen on Avenida do Almirante Lacerda Santo Antonio where, unlike the any of the areas I had seen in Gongbei, Zhuhai, many stores and other businesses still remained closed.



The Lok Kei Cafe, part of what had brought me to the street, was fortunately open, and I enjoyed an appropriate local-style afternoon snack there: a pork chop bun.



While there I learned they had just reopened that day and the water had reached the countertops during the storm. Not only did that explain the many stores at the street level which remained closed, but it also made me think of a nearby below-ground grocery I had been to last year. The story of the flooding also likely helped explain the booming business at one place I later passed not far away: a repair shop for electric vehicles.





What stood out most that day, though, was the large number of volunteers, police, sanitation crews, and other people participating in a massive cleanup effort due to damage from the extensive flooding. The immense amount of disposed items was striking as well. The following series of photos which conclude this post were taken from the late afternoon until evening on the western side of the Macau Peninsula. The photos are presented generally in the order they were taken, most with street names in Portuguese — one of Macau's official languages due to its past as a Portuguese colony. In addition to the extensive cleanup efforts, not all of which meant disposing damaged items, the set also includes two photos from a tourist area. Walking a few steps from some of the other scenes and reaching an area where all appeared mostly normal, except perhaps for smaller than usual crowds on a Saturday night, seemed surreal. The amount and type of items being disposed nearby seemed surreal as well.

Cleanup from Typhoon Hato on Rua de João de Araújo
Rua de João de Araújo


classical Chinese style furniture on Rua da Palmeira
Rua da Palmeira


Cleanup from Typhoon Hato on Travessa dos Calafates
Travessa dos Calafates


Cleanup from Typhoon Hato using heavy machinery at Rua da Ribeira do Patane
Rua da Ribeira do Patane


Cleanup from Typhoon Hato on Rua dos Faitioes
Rua dos Faitioes


repair work at a supermarket on Rua de Cinco de Outubro
Rua de Cinco de Outubro



Cleanup from Typhoon Hato on Rua de Cinco de Outubro
Rua de Cinco de Outubro


Cleanup from Typhoon Hato on Rua do Infante
Rua do Infante


piles of trash at Largo do Pagode do Bazar
Largo do Pagode do Bazar


broken Chinese vase in a trash bin
In front of the Hong Kung Temple


Refrigerated drink display disposed at Largo do Pagode do Bazar
Largo do Pagode do Bazar

Cleaning up at the O-Moon gift shop on Rua de Cinco de Outubro
The O-Moon gift shop on Rua de Cinco de Outubro


Hong Kung Temple
Hong Kung Temple


Cleanup from Typhoon Hato on Rua de Cinco de Outubro
Rua de Cinco de Outubro


small broken sculpture standing on Rua das Estalagens
Rua das Estalagens


Police moving debris on Rua das Estalagens
Rua das Estalagens


Cleanup from Typhoon Hato on Rua das Estalagens
Rua das Estalagens


disposed plates on Rua das Estalagens
Rua das Estalagens


Cleanup from Typhoon Hato on Rua de Nossa Senhora do Amparo
Rua de Nossa Senhora do Amparo


porcelain shop on Rua de Nossa Senhora do Amparo
Rua de Nossa Senhora do Amparo


Cleanup from Typhoon Hato on Rua de Nossa Senhora do Amparo
Rua de Nossa Senhora do Amparo


Cleanup from Typhoon Hato on Rua da Tercena
Rua da Tercena


Cleanup from Typhoon Hato on Rua da Tercena
Rua da Tercena


Crazy Barista on Rua da Tercena
The now permanently closed Crazy Barista on Rua da Tercena


Pile of trash on Rua da Tercena
On Rua da Tercena


Rua de São Paulo in the evening
Rua de São Paulo


Ruins of St. Paul's in Macau in the early evening
Ruins of St. Paul's


Reporter at Rua de Cinco de Outubro
Rua de Cinco de Outubro


Cleanup from Typhoon Hato at night on Rua de Cinco de Outubro
Rua de Cinco de Outubro


Cleanup from Typhoon Hato at night on Rua das Estalagens
Rua das Estalagens

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

A Useful Sign in Macau

Several high-speed rail trips, trouble-shooting a problematic camera and lens, and other such fun have been keeping me unusually occupied. But things should be relatively sane for a bit, so, more . . .
closed store with "COMMING SOON" storefront sign
[sic]
Seen in Macau

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Tangerine Trash in Macau

You know the Lunar New Year is really over when the tangerine pickup period has passed in Macau.

trash collection point in Macau


sign indicating dates for trash pickup of new year flowers and tangerines for Lunar New Year