Dig it up with the Quarry Hotel

As lovers of great design, we thought you might enjoy the creativity of this new hotel, which will be built in an abandoned quarry outside Shanghai, as shown in the artist’s view above.

With an estimated completion date of 2015, the InterContinental Shimao hotel will have 380 rooms over 19 storeys – two of which will provide an underwater restaurant, an athletic complex for water-based sports, and a 10-meter deep aquarium.

The luxury five-star hotel will be built inside the 100-metre deep, water-filled abandoned quarry at the base of the Tianmenshan Mountain, is intended as part of the Shimao Shanghai Wonderland, a large-scale theme park.

The building will use geothermal technologies to generate its own electricity and lighting, while greenery will blanket a roof that extends just two storeys above the edge of the quarry.