It is not often that we come across a five star hotel being built inside an abandoned quarry. But that is exactly the case with the mighty ‘InterContinental Shimao’, a plush $530 million (around £345 million) hotel that is to be constructed inside a water-filled quarry, situated at the base of Tianmenshan Mountain in China. The grandiose project is undertaken by British design firm Atkins, as they embark on a bold ‘structural’ endeavor to create a 100 m (around 330 ft) deep hotel with a whopping 19 floors that incorporates around 380 rooms.
And, if you thought that was ambitious; well, two of those floors would actually be constructed underneath the quarry’s water level. These special zones will have transparent glass facades that provide magnificent views across an aquarium like vista (teeming with marine life), while being complemented by an underwater restaurant. As for the user oriented zones inside the hotel, the resort would comprise of a slew of circulation areas other than just guest rooms. These include – several restaurants, a banqueting hall, conference rooms, a huge sporting facility and of course of a swimming pool.
Finally, coming to the quarry site features, the opposite side of the InterContinental Shimao boasts of a 100 m tall waterfall that can viewed from almost every guest room of the hotel. The expansive hotel roof itself (just 15 m above the cave) will consist of lush green lawns and gardens, parking spaces and glass draped access points to the main building (along the rocky quarry side).
The resort is expected to be finished by 2015, with each guest room coming for £200 (around $300) per night. In fact, the hotel would just be a part of a much larger Shimao Shanghai Wonderland, a one-of-its-kind themed park in the entire Songjiang District.
Via: DailyMail
