China builds a luxury underground hotel

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A few years ago, British engineering firm Atkins won the rights to design an extravagant hotel deep within a 100-metre pit in Shanghai‘s Songjiang District.

Construction on the Intercontinental Shimao Shanghai Wonderland finally commenced last month, and the hotel is scheduled to open in early 2015.


The 19-storey structure will be grafted onto the side of the 100-meter pit, with 16 floors burrowing down towards the deep quarry floor.

It will hold about 380 rooms which are expected to start at about $320 per night. The building will also feature an underwater restaurant.



A massive 60-meter tall glass curtain wall adjacent to the main structure will descend down the rockface in a manner that will “mimic a waterfall”, while the surrounding cliffs will be given over to bungee jumping and rockclimbing.