Chinese Escapes: Eco Luxury Hotel in a Quarry

All the Olympics frenzy has really got me wanting to take a trip to China. The landscape and history is amazing and the Great Wall is definitely on my list of things to see in my lifetime. Given that Apartment Therapy Escapes Month coincided with the Olympics, it's only appropriate to write about a new eco luxury hotel to be built in China. The hotel’s not just in China, but inside a 100 meter deep quarry in China...

The proposed Songjiang Hotel was designed by the firm Atkins to be built in the Songjiang district near Shanghai by May 2009. Building inside the quarry is an eco-innovative way to build because not only does less land have to be excavated, but also the quarry itself is a natural source of heat control and shelter from the environment. The building will take advantage of the natural terrain and use geothermal for electricity and hot water. Other fun features are sprawling green roofs, waterfalls, an underwater aquarium, and bungee jumping! The Songjiang Hotel serves as a beautiful example of how to merge architecture and landscape.

“We drew our inspiration from the quarry setting itself, adopting the image of a green hill cascading down the natural rock face as a series of terraced landscaped hanging gardens.”

China may have it’s environmental issues, but this is inspirational!

Via Inhabitat via DesignFlute and greenroofs

Images via Atkins