The shimao wonderland intercontinental is a hotel built inside a quarry
Via Atlas Obscura
The luxury resort hotel is not only a dazzling design concept: It was built to prevent further ecological damage to the environment around it and features an extensive sustainability program. The hotel is in fact an example of ‘Passive ‘sustainability, using the micro climate of the quarry and the thermal inertia if the rocky cliffs cooling in the summer and heating in the winter.
An engineering marvel, the Shimao Wonderland Intercontinental was designed by British Architect Martin Jochman, initially with the same British firm that designed the stunning Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai and later with his own studio JADE+QA. It took 12 years to build partially because novel solutions were needed to transport materials down into the quarry. The chief engineer called it a “fight with gravity” that took more than 5,000 architects, engineers, designers, and workers to build.
