Though at this point only computer-rendered images area available for this audacious project, don't be mistaken. This is no mere concept. In fact, construction is already underway on the Shimao Intercontinental Hotel in the Songjiang District of Shanghai - a five-star, 19-story, 380-room, luxury hotel built into an abandoned, part-flooded quarry.
Multi-discipline engineering and design consultancy, Atkins, wearing architectural, structural and civil engineering hats through the project's design and construction, told us that the hotel is part of a large resort catering to adrenaline-fixated extreme sportists - those fatter of pocket, at least.
And the conceptual images suggest the hotel could prove more than sufficiently grandiose for its clientele. The hotel's facade hugs the quarry face, s-ing from convex to concave form. A separate outbuilding (the entrance lobby) resembles a flying saucer descending into the quarry.
Rather than drain what water there is in the quarry, it appears that the idea instead is to add to it, filling it to become a sunken artificial lake. Two of the hotels floors housing guest rooms and a restaurant are to be situated underwater. The pièce de résistance is surely the waterfall which will plunge down in front of the hotel's facade and into the quarry - at least according to the concept. One always wonders whether the more grandstanding elements of the design will survive the dread process of value engineering.
Atkins pointed out some ostensibly environmentally-friendly aspects to the design. The design includes "green roofing and exploiting the site’s geothermal heat to generate electricity and heating. A naturally-lit internal atrium incorporates the existing rock face, with its waterfalls and green vegetation." The inclusion of on-site generation of heat and electricity is welcome, though unless numbers are put against those contributions it's impossible to assess just how valuable that contribution will be.
Shanghaiist reports that the Shanghai Shimao Property Group has so far invested US$555 million into the entire resort, and hotel rooms are expected to start at $320 per night.
Sources: Atkins, Shanghaiist
Images courtesy of Atkins
Hard to see how emergency services could easily and quickly get to say, a serious fire on the lower floors...
The concept can also be used for eco-torism of abandoned quarries, etc. The rooms next to the quarry wall can actually use the bare wall, or have water running down the wall....so many possibilities.
Great idea! Two thumbs up!!!
If the place is being built to modern standards there will not be a major fire because the sprinkler systems will have put it out; the twin towers came down because the port authority did not have to obey New York City fire code. Also engineering in emergency vehicle access would not present a structural problem either.
I've no doubt they WILL build in vehicular access, but the fact remains that it's notable by its absence in the pictures, and getting a rapid and effective response to the bottom of a sheer-sided 100 metre deep quarry is going to be logistically problematic, to say the least.
Would be a great hotel for rock climbers, you could sit and have lunch watching others climbing the rocks - great venue for climbing competitions.
And it still stands: on the face of it, there could be real problems in quickly getting help down that hole to where it's needed in an emergency.
1) Emergencies: What with millions of years scrambling up trees to safety the natural exodus is in exactly the right direction for half the floors.
2) bombs, terrorists? what world do you live in? you are thousands of times more likely to be murdered by a family member, or killed in a car crash on the way to the hotel (or die of a heart attack under your secretary) than ever be unfortunate enough to be mixed up with a terrorist bombing.
And if you are worried about terrorists: to reduce the risk, don't let your government train and arm "freedom fighters" in other countries (I'm thinking Taliban here, but Pinochet and others might be worth remembering), or allow corporate powers to invade other contries (that will Nigeria or Congo, for US and EU examples).