NEW YORK DESIGNERS are as familiar with high-rise work as any designers in the world. So when a New York-based team was assembled to deliver a new 450-room hotel and convention facility in the heart of Hanois new central business district, a skyscraper seemed the obvious choice to reflect the rise of Vietnams bustling economy. But rather than go vertical, city officials asked developers of the new JW Marriott Hanoi to create a dramatic profile closer to grade.
The resulting design for an 800,000-sq-ft structure by Carlos Zapata Studio, New York, is eight stories at its highest. But it makes its mark, both visually and structurally, with an aggressive use of cantilevering to evoke characteristics of a dragona nod to traditional imagery that reflects the contour of Vietnams coast.