For more than a decade, China has been a front-runner in the world’s skyscraper race. Now the country is taking the pole position in digging “groundscrapers” -- enormous structures built mostly underground.
Most recently, ground has been broken on construction of a high-end hotel at the foot of Shanghai’s Tianmashan in a 100-meter-deep pit.
Developed by Shanghai Shimao Property Group and to be managed by InterContinental Hotels Group, the hotel, named InterContinental Shimao Shanghai Wonderland, is expected to extend 19 stories into the bottom of the pit. It's due to open in late 2014 or early 2015.
Once completed, the deepest story of the luxury resort will be approximately 700 meters lower than the top floor of the world’s-highest-hotel-to-be, the Shanghai Tower J Hotel in Shanghai Tower, set for completion around the same time. Located about 45 kilometers southwest of Shanghai's city center, the pit in Tianmashan is 100 meters deep, 240 meters long and 160 meters wide. The lowest 20 meters are filled with stagnant rainwater, which the hotel will retain.
“The pit has served as a quarry since the 1950s,” said Yao Qi senior branding manager of Shanghai Shimao Property Group. "It has been abandoned since the year 2000."
Shimao purchased the surrounding land in 2006 in order to build Shimao Shanghai Wonderland, a large-scale theme park integrating hospitality, leisure and entertainment elements. The hotel is planned as part of the wonderland complex. Construction of the 380-room InterContinental Shimao Shanghai Wonderland commenced last month. The 19-story hotel will have three levels above ground, and 16 underground, including an underwater restaurant.
“A 60-meter glass curtain will be built to mimic a waterfall next to the resort’s main structure,” said Yao.
Designed by UK-based engineering firm Atkins, the company behind the ostentatious Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, the quarry hotel design bagged a Gold Medal at last year's commercial real estate MIPIM Asia Awards.
Hotel planners are considering taking advantage of the site's surrounding cliffs by hosting activities such as rock climbing and bungee jumping. Industry experts believe nightly room rates will start from RMB 2,000 (US$320), twice the price currently charged by nearby five-star hotels. Shimao is investing a total of RMB 3.5 billion (US$555 million) in the 428,200-square-meter Shimao Shanghai Wonderland, of which RMB 600 million (US$95 million) will go toward the subterranean resort.
The Shanghai property group has yet to reveal detailed plans for the rest of the wonderland complex. BD+C
Related Stories
AEC Business Innovation | Jul 11, 2021
Staffing, office changes at SCB, SmithGroup, RKTB, Ryan Cos., Jacobsen, Boldt, and Adolfson & Peterson
AEC firms take strategic action as construction picks up steam with Covid openings.
K-12 Schools | Jul 9, 2021
LPA Architects' STEM high school post-occupancy evaluation
LPA Architects conducted a post-occupancy evaluation, or POE, of the eSTEM Academy, a new high school specializing in health/medical and design/engineering Career Technical Education, in Eastvale, Calif. The POE helped LPA, the Riverside County Office of Education, and the Corona-Norco Unified School District gain a better understanding of which design innovations—such as movable walls, flex furniture, collaborative spaces, indoor-outdoor activity areas, and a student union—enhanced the education program, and how well students and teachers used these innovations.
Multifamily Housing | Jul 7, 2021
Make sure to get your multifamily amenities mix right
One of the hardest decisions multifamily developers and their design teams have to make is what mix of amenities they’re going to put into each project. A lot of squiggly factors go into that decision: the type of community, the geographic market, local recreation preferences, climate/weather conditions, physical parameters, and of course the budget. The permutations are mind-boggling.
Industrial Facilities | Jul 2, 2021
A new approach to cold storage buildings
Cameron Trefry and Kate Lyle of Ware Malcomb talk about their firm's cold storage building prototype that is serving a market that is rapidly expanding across the supply chain.
Multifamily Housing | Jun 30, 2021
A post-pandemic ‘new normal’ for apartment buildings
Grimm + Parker’s vision foresees buildings with rentable offices and refrigerated package storage.
Architects | Jun 30, 2021
Perkins Eastman joins forces with MEIS
MEIS’ work on stadiums and entertainment centers spans the globe with state-of-the-art designs in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Architects | Jun 25, 2021
AIA announces Small Project Award recipients
Now in its 18th year, the AIA Small Project Awards program recognizes small-project practitioners for the high quality of their work.
Architects | Jun 24, 2021
Post-pandemic, architects need to advocate harder for project sustainability
An AIA-Oldcastle report looks closer at the coronavirus’s impact on design and construction
Resiliency | Jun 24, 2021
Oceanographer John Englander talks resiliency and buildings [new on HorizonTV]
New on HorizonTV, oceanographer John Englander discusses his latest book, which warns that, regardless of resilience efforts, sea levels will rise by meters in the coming decades. Adaptation, he says, is the key to future building design and construction.
Multifamily Housing | Jun 23, 2021
COVID-19’s impact on multifamily amenities
Multifamily project teams had to scramble to accommodate the overwhelming demand for work-from-home spaces for adults and study spaces for children.