Archinect - News

Snøhetta to redevelop site of the second-largest waterfall in the US

2023-08-16T11:27:00-04:00

Snøhetta has unveiled a master plan to revitalize Willamette Falls in Oregon City. The second largest waterfall in the United States by volume, the site has been obscured by infrastructure for over a century, with Snøhetta’s plan centered on making the area more publicly accessible.

Image credit: Snøhetta

The master plan includes a riverwalk that begins at the entrance of Oregon City’s historic downtown and culminates at the waterfall’s peak. Imagined as a sequence of "islands" crafted from basalt, steel, wood, and concrete, the riverwalk is designed to be an immersive experience where visitors can witness the power of the falls up close while also feeling the mist and appreciating the landscape's changing tones.

Image credit: Snøhetta

By encompassing the city’s historic downtown, the project hopes to revitalize Main Street, which once served as a major avenue but today dead-ends at the entrance to the waterfall site. Under Snøhetta’s plans, the street will become the gateway for the ...

GWWO Architects shares project visualizations of new design for Niagara Falls Visitor Center

2021-04-26T18:43:00-04:00

In collaboration with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation, Baltimore-based architecture firm GWWO Architects shares their design for the new Niagara Falls State Park Visitor Center. Familiar with museum and visitor center projects, the firm has also completed design projects for the Homestead Heritage Center in Beatrice, Nebraska, the Robinson Nature Center in Howard Country, Maryland, and Port Canaveral Exploration Tower in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

A true spectacle, Niagara Falls attracts over nine million visitors every year to witness the powerful force of 3,160 tons of water flowing over the falls per second. The GWWO design team explains the newly designed center will "offer an immersive experience, both inside and out, taking visitors on a journey through time, spanning the eras of geological formation and human impacts on the falls, bringing to life the many voices and perspectives of those experiencing its beauty and grandeur, and highlight...

The world's 'deepest hotel' just opened to guests in an abandoned Chinese quarry

2018-11-16T15:50:00-05:00

Rising 88 metres (290 feet) from the floor of an abandoned quarry, the 18-storey InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland Hotel in the city’s Songjiang district has been in development for 12 years and cost 2 billion yuan (US$287.9 million) to complete. Of its 18 floors, just two are aboveground while its two lowest are completely submerged by a lake that occupies the remainder of the vast quarry pit.

Remember the Chinese 'Deep Pit Hotel' that was poised to open inside an abandoned quarry outside of Shanghai? Officially titled InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland, the 336-room luxury property finally launched yesterday.

'World's First Underground Hotel' set to open in an abandoned Chinese quarry

2018-09-28T18:29:00-04:00

InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland (also known as the Deep Pit Hotel), will finally open its doors in October. The eye-popping, luxury hotel is standing out as a must-see destination in itself. Built mostly below ground in a deep pit of an abandoned quarry in southwestern Shanghai, it’s being hailed as a modern architectural wonder. [...] Of its 18 floors, 16 are technically below ground, including two floors underwater.

Image courtesy of Atkins.

"The hotel houses 337 rooms and suites that boast curved balconies where guests can enjoy views of the waterfalls spilling from the surrounding cliffs and the transparent glass waterfall built into the centre of the hotel," writes Lonely Planet on its website. What's not to love?

Image courtesy of Atkins.

Artificial waterfalls inside an enormous rock pit certainly feel more authentic than the 350-foot example gushing down this skyscraper 1,130 miles further west in the city of Guiyang.

A 350-foot artificial waterfall gushes down this Chinese skyscraper. Because, why not?

2018-07-26T16:23:00-04:00

As more skyscrapers rise to fill the skylines of Chinese cities, it’s getting harder to come up with original designs to stand out. That prompted a novel idea: How about a 350-foot waterfall on one side of the building? The waterfall was built as part of the Liebian Building in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province in southwest China.

Fortune reports that "the waterfall has generated some local controversy because the electricity needed to power its four pumps costs 800 yuan, or about $118, per hour—although the building’s managers say that the waterfall will run only on special occasions and use recycled water from rain or the tap."

One way to beat the summer heat.