Atkin’s Architecture Group recently won the first prize award for an international design competition with this stunning entry. Set in a spectacular water filled quarry in Songjiang, China, the 400 bed resort hotel is uniquely constructed within the natural elements of the quarry. Underwater public areas and guest rooms add to the uniqueness, but the resort also boasts cafes, restaurants and sporting facilities.
The lowest level runs with the aquatic theme by housing a luxurious swimming pool and an extreme sports center for activities such as rock climbing and bungee jumping which will be cantilevered over the quarry and accessed by special lifts from the water. With a stunning visual presentation as shown here, it’s no wonder this project took home the first prize. This is a fine example of an ultra modern facility co-existing amongst its natural environment.
Perhaps it’s inevitable that with modern surreal estate– the combination of entertainment, architecture and media that defy traditional notions of place– that irony threatens to undermine the utopian nature of these projects, but then again “utopia” does mean “no place.” Built into a quarry– or an Earth gouge– it’s impossible to ignore the dam-like resemblance of China’s Waterworld hotel and resort design– that, or the space-colony look of it (reminds me a little of images from the Mars Trilogy). In light of the Three Gorge Dam project in China–designed to quench the country’s increasing energy thirst– Waterworld invites inspection as water is turned into an entertainment spectacle. For a model on how to do this, look no further than Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, water levels in China’s reservoirs are dwindling and the Yangstze is at its lowest. Maybe reality will insert it’s own plans, transforming the project into Desertworld and becoming one of those strange artifacts of the past like those now-decaying cities rotting in the periphery of the old Soviet Empire.
Update: More evidence of China’s thirst for drying water.
Technorati Tags: Waterworld
