When I think of fun places to go on vacation, an abandoned industrial wasteland isn't usually high on my list. That's not going to stop the developers of this luxury resort near Shanghai, which has just broken ground.
Actually, "breaking ground" is not the most accurate term to use here, because the site is a long abandoned quarry called Tianmashan Mountain, meaning that the hole is already there.
When completed in about two and a half years, the Intercontinental Shimao Shanghai Wonderland will have 380 rooms, with 16 floors of the so called groundscraper deep inside the pit with just two poking out of the ground. The bottom of the pit will become an artificial lake, fed by a waterfall housed within a glass sheet falling in front of some of the rooms. At the bottom of the hotel there will be a two story underwater restaurant and aquarium.
A huge theme park will also be part of the complex, using the walls of the pit for rock climbing and bungee jumping. Rooms will start at $320 a night, with the entire complex expected to cost around $555 million.
I guess the developers were fans of the old line from Field Of Dreams: "If you build it, they will come." PHOTOS
Shanghaiist, via Architizer
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