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= Architecture of Macau = The architecture of Macau refers to buildings that are built in Macau. The architecture in Macau is influenced by both Portuguese culture and Chinese culture, reflecting a strong historical and cultural feature as well as its unique industry.

History of the Macau City
Macau was first established as a city for trade by the Portuguese in the 16th century. It reached its golden age in the 17th century with a growing population of traders, Christian immigration and Chinese refugees, and eventually transformed to a more Chinese city in the late eighteenth century. Under such historical context, the architecture in Macau can be in European style or Chinese style, and many cases, an eclectism blend of both.

Public Architecture
The public buildings in Macau mainly include temples, churches, fortresses/city walls and municipal buildings. In the early days, the public buildings are mostly churches and fortresses inside the city wall of Portuguese settlement, and temples in Chinese settlement outside the fortified skirts.

Temples
The most famous temple in the city is A-Ma Temple, which is located at the south tip of the city. The temple is dedicated to the Chinese sea-goddess Mazu, whose name inspired the naming of the Macau city. Some of the Chinese temples goes beyond religious space and becomes a communication hub of citizens, traders and the government. The Kuan Tai Temple, which is located at the heart of the city, was used also as a city meeting hall.

Churches
Macau was one of the important stops for missionaries on their way to Japan or China in the sixteenth century. As the Christian population grows, there was an increasing need of facilities. Many of the famous churches in Macau, such as the Holy House of Mercy, St. Dominic's Church and the Church of St. Paul (destroyed by fire, see Ruins of St. Paul's), date back to this period.

Fortresses
The fortresses and the city walls(see Walls of Macau) are one of the first and most important constructions when the Portuguese first settled in Macau. There are still many existing structures that currently have become iconic tourist attractions. Many of them are UNESCO World Heritage Site s, such as the Fortaleza do Monte and the Guia Fortress.

Piazzas and other Public Buildings
Deeply influenced by Portuguese culture, Macau has public piazzas just like many European cities. The most famous one is the Senado Square. Other public buildings are often planned around the squares. Most of the old Chinese public buildings are gone or replaced by western style public facilities, an incomplete list of important existing buildings can be found below: The Leal Senado Building

Macao Central Library

Macau General Post Office

Macau Government Headquarters

Sun Yat Sen Memorial House

Red Market

Moorish Barracks

Casinos
Macau is the only city in China where gambling is legal, and the industry is liberalized to foreign corporations. The casinos in Macau has developed from its early simple form of gambling hall to gigantic recreational complexes that have hotels, theatres, malls and other recreational facilities. These megastructures have greatly shaped the cityscape of Macau, especially in new-developed, reclaimed areas. There is a total of 50 Casinos spread across the cities of Macau, Cotai and Taipa. Being known as the ‘Las Vegas of China’, Macau has a substantial amount of casinos compared to other regions, with 30 in the city of Macau, 14 in Cotai and 6 in Taipa. An example of a famous Casino in Macau is the ‘MGM MACAU’, which stands at 154 metres tall and is located near the southern coast of the northern region of Macau. Other casinos in Macau include the Grand Lisboa Casino & Hotel, Wynn Casino Macau and Sands Macao Hotel, all of which are clustered around each other and near the MGM MACAU. This architectural cluster centralises the casinos near the southern coast of Macau, creating a ‘hub’ for gambling and accommodation.

Commercial Skyscrapers
Within the region of Macau, there are 20 completed buildings and 2 under construction that are above 150 metres tall, which ranks Macau as #48 in the world by the number of buildings over 150 metres. Macau's first building over 150m was the Bank of China, which is located in the City of Macau and currently stands at 163m (535 feet) tall. The tallest completed building in Macau is the Grand Lisboa Casino & Hotel, with an architectural height to the tip of 258m (846 feet) and a residential height of 197.7m (649 feet). These statistics rank the height of the building as #332 in the world. The building began construction in 2003 and was completed in 2008. Functioning as a hotel/casino and made from predominately steel, concrete and glass, it was designed by the architectural company “Dennis Lau & Ng Chun Man Architects & Engineers (HK) Ltd. (DLN)” as their 9th tallest building. The Grand Lisboa has 48 floors above ground and 4 below, with 433 hotel rooms and 338 parking spots.

Macau's most recently constructed tall building, finished in 2018, is the Morpheus building, which is a multi-story building that stands at 155.2m (509 feet) tall with 40 floors above ground and 770 hotel rooms. Architecturally, the Morpheus is unconventionally constructed with an exoskeleton design and 3 separate openings that travel through the middle of the building. The building was designed by the late architect Dame Zaha Hadid and was developed by Melco Crown Entertainment Limited.

The table below is a list of the top 20 tallest completed buildings in Macau ranked upon structural height. The amount of floors only includes above ground floors. Technically the tallest structure in Macau, however not classified under the same category as the tallest buildings in Macau, the Macau Tower (pictured below) is 338m (1102.9 feet) tall to the tip. It was designed by architect, Gordon Moller and was inspired by the Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand. It currently holds the Guinness World Record for the highest commercial bungee jump point at 233m (764 feet) and the first person to jump was film star Edison Chen (China) in 2006.

Street for Business
Apart from modern arcade malls in casino complex such as the Venetian replica in the Venetian Macau, there are many commercial streets distributed throughout the city fabric. The most famous street is the Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, where a mix of Chinese architecture and Portuguese architecture can be found. There are traditional Chinese commercial streets such as the Rua da Felicidade at the heart of the Chinese city centre, where two-story buildings with roof overhang are the dominant building typology. The ground space of these buildings are for trade, and the upper floor is for living.

Residential Architecture
Macau has special types of residential architecture, such as the Chinese ancestral home complex and Continental European style housing. The former has become a vernacular architectural heritage.

Chinese Ancestral Home Complex
The Chinese ancestral home complex is an integration of living space, ancestral hall and meeting space built by wealthy families. Famous examples are the Mandarin's House and the Lou Kau Mansion.

Continental European Style Housing
The Continental European style in Macau's residential architecture is mainly reflected in the facade. The interior of these housing are often designed in Chinese style or a blend of both. After the twentieth century, the concepts of Neo-classism and modern architecture are introduced and the housing layouts are influenced. The Continental European style houses can be found on Taipa Island.

Landscape Architecture
From mid-sixteenth century to the 1940s, the development of landscape architecture in Macau is very limited. This situation was not changed until around 1864, when the Macau government began to realize the importance of city planning. Under the city planning scheme and an emphasis on urban greenery, the government recovered many abandoned gardens and built new city parks.

Chinese Style Gardens
The Chinese gardens in Macau are mainly private gardens and temple gardens. These gardens form unique blends of Jiangnan style, Linnan architecture style and occasionally, Portuguese traces.

Private gardens: Lou Lim Ieoc Garden

Temple gardens: The garden in the A-Ma Temple

European Style Gardens
There are four types of European style gardens in Macau of different functions: city gardens, gardens in public buildings, fortress landscapes and cemetry gardens. Below is an incomplete list of the four types:

City gardens: Jardim do Sao Francisco (S. Francisco Garden), Camoes Garden and Grotto, Infantil Do Chunambeiro Park, Carmel Garden, etc

Gardens in public buildings: Garden of Leal Senado Building

Fortress landscapes: the Garden in Fortaleza da Taipa

Cemetery gardens: Cemitério dos Parses