A 250-metre-high Exploration Deck which offers 270-degree panorama views of Chongqing’s skyline at Raffles City in China is now open to visitors.
“The Exploration Deck is the first major attraction to launch in Chongqing since the lifting of the country’s nationwide lockdown and the public’s enthusiastic response is yet another encouraging sign of recovery in consumer sentiment,” said Lucas Loh, president, China, CapitaLand Group.
Raffles City Chongqing was developed by real estate company CapitaLand. The company says the property is its largest development in China and the glass-bottom Exploration Deck is “the highest of its kind in Western China”.
Visitors to the Exploration Deck, which took seven years to build, begin their journey at Level 1 with an exploration-themed exhibition, in collaboration with National Geographic. The first part of the exhibition introduces the history and development of Chongqing before leading visitors to the express elevator which takes about 52 seconds to reach the top, according to CapitaLand.
When the lift opens at Level 47, visitors are “transported to a futuristic world that imagines life on planet Mars”. At the end of the exhibition, visitors enter a “tranquil pocket park” before stepping onto an open-air sky deck with a transparent glass floor. The Exploration Deck is part of The Crystal, an enclosed sky bridge that is connected to six of Raffles City Chongqing’s eight skyscrapers.
CapitaLand says the The Crystal is also known as Raffles City Chongqing’s “horizontal skyscraper” as it’s almost 300 metres long. CapitaLand says The Crystal is made up of a “continuous steel structure” weighing 12,000 tons and enclosed with a ring comprising about 3,000 pieces of glass panels and close to 5,000 aluminium panels.
As well as the Exploration Deck, The Crystal houses The Private Club, a members-only clubhouse with two swimming pools, as well as restaurants and bars at the Sky Garden, which is set to open at a later date said CapitaLand.
According to CapitaLand, Raffles City Chongqing is Singapore’s and CapitaLand’s single largest development in China at RMB24 billion. The development spans 1.12 million sqm and comprises a 235,000-sqm shopping mall, 150,000-sqm of office space, about 1,400 residential apartments, and also the InterContinental Raffles City Chongqing hotel, it added.
