Practice notches up Guinness World Records entry for resort’s £28m steel diagrid roof

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates has landed itself a place in the record books with the steel diagrid roof of its Spectacle space at the MGM Cotai resort in Macau.

The resort includes two hotel towers created from eight cantilevered boxes, a casino, a shopping complex, a 2,000-seat theatre and a convention centre at podium level.

The central focus of the resort is the 9,000 sq m Spectacle multi-purpose activity space, covered by the column-free diagrid glass roof.

Therecord-breaking roof of KPF's Spectacle event space at the MGM Cotai resort in Macau

Therecord-breaking roof of KPF’s Spectacle event space at the MGM Cotai resort in Macau

KPF said the structure covered the equivalent of the playing area of 30 tennis courts and had now been recognised by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest self-supporting free-span gridshell glazed roof. Its longest span is 138.5m and the structure weighs 2,000 tons.

KPF said the roof had cost more than US$37m to build (£28.3m at today’s exchange rates). It was designed in collaboration with Arup and engineered by Hong Kong firm Siu Yin Wai & Associates.

The MGM Cotai resort officially opened in February 2018.

KPF's jewellery-box themed MGM Cotai resort in Macau

KPF’s jewellery-box themed MGM Cotai resort in Macau