The design concept for the Morpheus Hotel involves a striking exoskeleton that wraps itself around the two 160 m cores, bringing them together with a flowing mid-section featuring three irregular curved apertures. Inside the building, the free-form steel framework continues, curving high above a huge atrium space that is echoed by that of the sky pool above.In structural terms, the steel exoskeleton and two internal concrete cores act together to provide lateral load resistance, sharing wind and seismic loads in proportion to stiffness. The gravity system comprises composite beams and slabs that span between the exoskeleton and the cores with minimal internal columns (Fig. 2).There are approximately 2500 connections in the exoskeleton. The members and connections are fabricated from steel plate up to 150 mm thick in grades up to S460. Many of the connections are specified in 'offshore quality' plate to BS EN 10225 [1] in order to ensure adequate ductility and strength in the through-thickness direction. Mem-This article describes how cutting-edge, parameter-based computational engineering techniques have been used to undertake the conception, analysis and documentation of the 2500 complex steelwork connections in the exoskeleton of the new Morpheus Hotel in Macau. It discusses the tools, methodologies and strategies devised by the engineering team to automate the time-consuming model creation and data-handling operations associated with the finite element analysis, enabling them to complete this challenging part of the project in just 12 months.
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