Songjiang Hotel, China

Although it remained at the design level, the Songjiang Hotel is still an impressive idea. The Atkins design studio won an international competition for a hotel resort that is to be situated in a 100 meter deep quarry near Shanghai. I love the way the team coordinated by Martin Jochman integrated the building and all its annexes into the "man made natural" environment. Water has a special place in the complex because effectively the area is a lake at 100 meters bellow ground level. Imagine what the view must be from down there. Hope they will eventually finish this project.

The Atkins design studio also created the well known Burj al Arab. Images and info are taken from the official site of the company. Click here.

The quarry now.

The proposed complex.

Night view. From worldarchitecturenews.com