Zaha Hadid Architects has a way of designing buildings so intricate and complex that the photographs look like renderings rather than completed architecture. Their latest unveiling is Morpheus, the flagship hotel for the City of Dreams resort in Macau.

While the sculptural design of Morpheus was inspired by China’s centuries-old tradition of jade carving, the structure of the hotel hardly resembles any structure or building we see today. Zaha Hadid Architects describes it as “world’s first free-form high-rise exoskeleton.”

The structure of the 40-story building consists of two internal vertical cores that connect at the top, bottom and mid levels. From the outside, the building abstractly resembles a figure 8, an auspicious and lucky number in Chinese numerology.

A series of voids are carved throughout the interiors of the hotel, defining the hotel’s public spaces.