ZAHA HADID OPUS HOTEL DUBAI

hospitality

May 23

Written By Lauren Engel

HOSPITALITY

ZAHA HADID OPUS HOTEL DUBAI

Client: ME by Meliá

Architecture: Zaha Hadid Architects

Location: Burj District, Dubai

Services provided

film production • cinematography • directing • producing

ABOUT

Set in the core of the Burj Khalifa district, awaits Melia ME Dubai. Consciously crafted to be a granted wish for all adventurous minds in search of satisfying their heart's adoration of art and contemporary culture. ME Dubai holds a uniquely built elegance that rewards the curious explorer with transcendent design, cuisine, fashion, and music. Considered Dubai's most anticipated design-led hotel of luxury, as it was first designed by the late architectural icon, Zaha Hadid back in 2007, but officially opened in March of 2020.

Arturo+Lauren were passionate about honoring Hadid's only hotel design in their work by capturing the lively detailing found in her vivid art aesthetic and design style. Showcasing this through a traveler's eyes by incorporating the different hotel facilities set in the business bay and utilizing models as the potential guests for shots that would bring about the view of what future visitors would get to experience for themselves.
To look beyond the surface and exceptionally capture the exterior facades of the hotel gave way to its own challenges due to the narrow streets on each side of the building. Arturo+Lauren also needed to emphasize the rooms and reveal their mutual connection to the historic area. Mainly through the inclusion of the Burj Khalifa - the world's tallest tower, which can be seen from the hotel. The duo also didn't want anything to appear too contrived, but instead wanted to match the natural sophistication of the space. This was a greater task when it came to the ways in which the models would appear in the space.
To tackle the challenge of maintaining naturalistic imagery, Arturo+Lauren had the models interact with one another. Helping emanate a storyline of business travelers meeting; appealing to the clients prospective demographic. View cameras assisted in photographing the facades, where the pair used shift movements as a way of sustaining those straight lines while visually grasping the scale and proportions accurately. Stating, "it's important to be positioned strategically to make the facade monumental."
Adhering to their goals for the property, Arturo+Lauren were able to produce a seamless blend of architecture and commercial style design in a way that would offer a more personally aligned flair for Hadid’s grand design details, rather than what one might expect from the typical imagery seen of commercial architecture.