InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland, dubbed the Architecture Wonder of the World by National Geographic, is a hotel set within an Andesite quarry dug by the Japanese in the 1950’s. The hotel plunges a dramatic fourteen stories below ground level terminating in a pristine pool of water fed by a controlled waterfall. A wetland at the ground level filters and cleans the water before it is released into the pool below. The landscape at the B14 level creates spaces which function in tandem with the corresponding architectural program as well as providing high and low vantage points form which to enjoy the pristine water landscape. On the east, elevated private
gardens plug into luxury villa rooms providing an higher viewpoint, while the northern and eastern regions of the landscape step down to the water’s edge. A central event plaza apparently floating in the quarry pool is accessible via grand sweeping pathways.
The landscape for the ground level is divided among its various programs such as hotel lobby drop off, ball room, visitors center, theme park, and wetlands. The primary axis of the entry sequence crosses a canal terminating in a roundabout with burned stone formation giving the visitors the feeling of traveling into the earth, with the journey ending at the hotel drop off in what feels to be a sunken plaza. This compression is then released upon entering the lobby with expansive views down into the quarry.