Ice and Water World, 5 Star Hotel Tower 

The Deep Ice Pit and Water World is located in Da Wang Shan Resort area, near the city of Changsha. Coop-Himmelb(l)au’s winning proposal combines an Entertainment Ice World with an Indoor Ski Slope, a Water Park, supporting restaurants and shopping facilities with a total gross floor area of 120,000 m².

More highlights include a cantilevered outdoor swimming pool, set to form a 60-meter waterfall into the pit of the quarry, while an upside-down glass cone will diffuse light through the center of the structure. The Hotel Tower build next to the pit is an exceptional iconic orientation point for the whole resort.

The building volume will be integrated into the landscape scenery and positioned directly on top of a historical cement mining quarry pit and lake. 

The design reveals the existing quarry pit on the south and east of the site, with the sculpted shell of the Snow and Ice World spanning 170 meters from cliff to cliff over a sunken hanging garden. New leisure space of islands, water, cliffside pathways and ramps are thus created, connecting the building to this natural heritage. This unique framed open space in between architecture and landscape is also characterized by an impressive central glass cone providing controlled daylight to the Ice World structure and the islands and water surfaces below.

A cantilevered, crescent-shaped outdoor swimming pool is part of the Water Park attractions, creating a 60 m high waterfall into the quarry pit. 

Views from the inside of the Snow and Ice World will engage the visitors to its natural surrounding with the quarry pit natural cliff faces, hanging gardens, water pools and the islands below. 

At the same time, visitors walking on the cliffside pathways will also be able to look into the building through its transparent façade, thus creating an interactive visual contact with the interior of the Snow and Ice World.

The 100 m high luxury Hotel Tower appears as a single sculpture from the main viewpoints and is located on the south end of the resort. 

It offers 270 high-class single and double bed suites, 60 executive suites and a presidential suite, all with impressive views to Tongxi Lake, Dawang Mountain and into the Ice World. A spacious central lobby around the tower core contains a bar and restaurant on level one, flexible and multifunctional conference areas on level two, and the fitness, spa and beauty facilities on level three. A special garden-plaza connects the hotel to the Ice World, forming a building complex of exceptional presence and design quality.