Pictures: Shanghai’s new underground and underwater hotel

The InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland hotel will be opening on 1 December 2018 after 10 years of elaborate planning and construction.

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well this looks fun… let’s go to Shanghai next summer 🌞 Built into an abandoned quarry about 20 miles from Shanghai, the hotel includes two underwater floors and a green rooftop that blends into the surrounding countryside. The unique design takes advantage of the location and natural elements such as the rocky cliffs, waterfalls, and surrounding hills. A glass waterfall pours over the façade, where all 18 floors of above-ground rooms have balconies and views of the quarry. The underground floors include rooms and a restaurant that face a 33-foot-deep aquarium, plus a leisure complex, swimming pool, and water sports. The hotel’s roof is at ground level and covered with grass and trees to fit into the surrounding topography and preserve the local environment. A sports center is cantilevered over the quarry for extreme activities such as rock climbing and bungee jumping. 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 generates its own power, heating, and lighting through the use of geothermal and solar energy. And the design incorporates the quarry’s rock face, reflects the elements, and includes green vegetation on the roof and elsewhere throughout the building. #ecohotels #sustainability #geothermalenergy #solarenergysolutions

A post shared by karim_so____ (@karim_so____) on Oct 9, 2018 at 9:52am PDT

Designed by the architects who also created Dubai’s Burj Al Arab, the 18-storey Shanghai Wonderland hotel has over 300 rooms. Sixteen of these are underground, while two are completely underwater inside the hotel’s 10-metre deep aquarium. Once the hotel opens, waterfalls will cascade down the quarry where the adventurous can go rock climbing and bungee jumping, according to CNN.

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A post shared by Luxury (@noirgrand) on Jul 24, 2017 at 1:29pm PDT

Located 30km outside of the city center, skyline views are swapped out for natural surroundings due to the hotel’s close proximity to the Tianmen Mountain National Park.

Watch the video below for a full sneak-peak.