Thursday, May 24, 2012

Coolest hotel ever

Near Shanghai, the Songjiang district has become a popular weekend destination for many tourists with its natural beauty and sprawling landscapes. And now the Songjiang Hotel might just become the newest and greenest attraction. While it may look a bit sci-fi, this hotel was designed for the real (green) world, with many sustainable features in mind.
The 400-bed resort will be located in a 100-meter-deep quarry located in the province and will contain restaurants, cafes, sport facilities, and even underwater public areas and guestrooms. Water will play an important part in the design, featured in many areas around the hotel. Waterfalls, underwater aquariums, and green areas will be integrated into the design to match the existing facing of the quarry.

The reuse of an already existing site means that the environmental impact will hopefully be smaller. The entire hotel is to be covered in a green roof, while the building will use geothermal energy for it’s electrical supply and heating. The quarry will also provide a good source of heat control and shelter from the environment.

The design of the building is meant to reflect the natural landscape of the quarry. “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.” said Martin Jochman. Needless to say, with such a cool looking site, you’d expect to get a design which will take advantages of it’s very extreme location, and you’d be correct. The hotel, will feature amongst other things: bungee jumping.

Anyway, I saw this online and thought I'd share. It looks like it's straight out of a science-fiction movie or maybe even Star Wars. Would you like to visit a place like this?

38 comments:

  1. That is amazing! Now I want to go!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, I would enjoy visiting a place like this. I love it when architects and engineers create structures that merge with nature instead of against her. Plus, they have bungee jumping! :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. It looks pretty cool. Who would have thought the Chinese would go green anyway?

    ReplyDelete
  4. This would be a prefect place to take my sci-fi, green/ecolo and asian culture loving husband. Too bad he doesn't like the crowds this will surely draw! Thanks for the real life inspiration - blows my mind!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your label "Cool Stuff" says it all. I'd love a home like that.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Just by the first pic, I wouldn't want to go, but the second one looks more like it's in the real world.

    ReplyDelete
  7. ever get the feeling the chinese are leaving us behind? So should have learned mandarin at school.

    mood
    Moody Writing
    @mooderino
    The Funnily Enough

    ReplyDelete
  8. If I ever get to China I'll at least go see it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. OMG I would totally go there!! That looks so cool! Thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow, when I think of my experience in Shanghai, I don't think of peaceful. It is loud and crazy and wall to wall people. When I look at this picture I can't imagine that existing in Shanghai.

    ReplyDelete
  11. It does look futuristic. I love architecture. I've been known to take photos of interesting buildings on trips.

    I would love to visit this one.

    Teresa

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh, that hotel is so cool! I would go when it's built.

    ReplyDelete
  13. It's probably going to be really expensive too.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Whoa! That's amazing! It does look sci-fi, but I see what they mean about integrating natural shapes & architecture. Very, very cool!

    ReplyDelete
  15. That looks awesome! I would love to visit.

    ReplyDelete
  16. It's looks pretty awesome. I wonder if the Chinese government thinks stuff like this mitigates their other environmentally irresponsible behaviors.

    Still, not to get all political. I'd stay there.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I looked at a lot of really neat hotel ideas for my research during A to Z. The problem is that none of these places are actually being built. They're all just stuck in the design phase.

    Basically, I'll believe it when I see it.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hotel in a hole.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wow... If you'd told me that was a planned resort on Titan I might have believed you...

    ReplyDelete
  20. oh my gosh... I would love to see that in person..looks so neat!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I would love to go there if only it wasn't so far away. It's what I picture Gentech to look like in my novel.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Whoa!!!! That is pure sci-fi. I sort of don't think the hotel really exists. Are you sure you didn't just have someone draw those up for you? haha

    ReplyDelete
  23. Love it, love it, love it! I would def stay there. I was in Shanghai two years ago, and the ride on the river does reveal some sci-fi buildings. A worthwhile visit. Thanks for the tweeting of Fireseed, BTW.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Looks like the place to have a book launch party!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Absolutely. I love that it incorporates green energy with the design!

    ReplyDelete
  26. It does look awesome. I bet it will be super expensive to build, but I suppose it will pay for itself in the long run.

    ReplyDelete
  27. It looks so futurisitic. I bet it will be expensive to stay in too. Thanks for sharing. I bet a lot of movies and may be some television shows will want to use it in some scenes. I am sure that Bollywood movies will.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I thought about getting a place like that for a second home. But I remembered at the last minute that it would probably cost more than 20 bucks to build one of those. Glad I remembered before I embarrassed myself.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Definitely not Shanghai, Michael. I've been to that hotel. It's in Newark, NJ. Someone just airbrushed out the pimps.

    And I just noticed your novel came out in April of this year, how do we get a review copy for white Cat Publications (www.whitecatpublications.com). Let me know who to write and I'll assign someone to review it.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Wow. How cool is that hotel... you're right... it has a futuristic look to it. Wonder what it's like on the inside.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Ooooh. And the answer to your question is yes.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Yes, this is cool and yes I'd love to go there. I could see this in your novel, in Avalon. Fits Met's personality.

    .....dhole

    ReplyDelete
  33. Wow. I hope it's all environmentally friendly...

    ReplyDelete
  34. Wow, that place looks amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  35. The chinese are leading the way in green energy. Companies that were trying to get going here and couldn't find the funding are finding it in China so all that energy is spent elsewhere- and we will continue to lead the world in using oil and coal. It's pretty cool looking but I am a little skeptical of it's greenness (other than the obvious fact that it's built into a quarry. Here's hoping!

    ReplyDelete