With China's rapid economic growth over the past decade has come a massive surge in construction. This has created a market for bold and sometimes outlandish designs. Recently, a hotel in Shanghai built nearly 300 feet below the surface is set to be officially open to the public next week. Before we finish tonight's program, let's take a quick look at what sort of "out-of-the-box experience" engineers and designers can offer this time around.

Once an open-pit mine and now a five-star hotel.

After nearly a decade of construction and nearly 300 US dollars of investment, the InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland or Tianma Pit Hotel is finally open for business.

MARTIN JOCHMAN ARCHITECT, INTERCONTINENTAL SHANGHAI WONDERLAND "When I first came to this place it was just a hole in the ground, it was a rocky quarry for quarrying stone for making roads."

Located inside the Tianma Mountain Park, the subterranean 17-floor hotel is about an hour's drive from downtown Shanghai.

It's complete with a man-made waterfall, underwater guest-rooms with remarkable views, and recreational activities like rock climbing, features that the engineers say make this hotel quite distinctive

CHEN XIAOXIANG CHIEF ENGINEER, INTERCONTINENTAL SHANGHAI WONDERLAND "The biggest difference from other projects is that this one is completely new. It's like something we have never encountered before."

While the fun is open to everyone, it will put a hole in your pocket.

Rooms at this underground hotel start at about 500 US dollars per night.

A little on the high side for most, but is it worth it?

MARTIN JOCHMAN ARCHITECT, INTERCONTINENTAL SHANGHAI WONDERLAND "Totally unique idea to actually really do something special with a site that was forgotten and nobody knew what to do with - give it new life."