China is set to get yet another quarry-turned-resort in an ambitious project by Coop Himmelb(l)au architecture, transforming an abandoned mining pit into an artificial icy landscape with an indoor skiing center and a cantilevered outdoor swimming pool. The Deep Pit Ice and Snow World at Dawang Mountain Resort near Changsha, China will also include a 100-meter-tall hotel with over 300 rooms looking out over Tongxi Lake and Dawang Mountain.
Spanning 170 meters cliff-to-cliff of what is currently an abandoned cement quarry, the resort will offer both cold-weather and warm-weather recreational opportunities, with the icy and snowy attractions inside a sculpted shell. Beneath this volume will be a sunken garden featuring cliffside pathways, ponds and islands. A central glass cone will cut through the building to bring natural daylight into this subterranean space.
A 60-meter (196 feet) waterfall will crash from the cantilevered outdoor swimming pool on the edge of the quarry, deep into the pit. From inside the Snow and Ice World, visitors can peer through large glass facades onto the watery landscape filled with greenery.
The project is very similar to the Shimao Intercontinental Hotel (pictured above), a 19-story, 5-star hotel located deep within a 328-foot abandoned quarry near the base of Tianmashan Mountain near Shanghai. Though the concept seemed too crazy to be true, construction has already begun. That resort will include an aquarium, restaurants, and recreational activities taking advantage of the unique landscape, like rock climbing and water-based sports.
